Pajaros en la Cabeza
by The Crack Fairy
Summary: Kakuzu, Akatsuki Academy's best student and resident asshole, is forced to spend an hour a day with the Academy's newest student, Hidan, for tutoring. Watch an unlikely relationship unfold... AU, rated for swearing
1. Tutoring

Disclaimer: I do not own „Naruto" or any of the involved characters.

Warnings: AU

Pairings: Mainly KakuzuHidan

Edit: Thanks to Sifu Smel for helping me fix the Spanish sentences!

01

Akatsuki Academy was a relatively unknown school; it had been founded not too long ago with the principle of supporting every student's individual talents.

The academy was in a small city in between a lot of larger ones with famous schools (the most famous one being Konoha Academy, closely followed by Suna Academy).

If you wanted to get into this school, you had to be personally chosen by the founder and headmaster, Madara Uchiha. Madara's goal, the students always said, was to outdo his biggest rival, Hashirama Senju, the headmaster of Konoha Academy.

The school system was relatively easy; you had six hours of classes per day, one hour lunch, and clubs.

The ages covered in the academy ranged from sixteen to eighteen; there were three grades, and at the moment, the number of students was small enough to have only one class per grade.

Despite how boring it sounded, Kakuzu was glad to be back.

Ah, yes. This is Kakuzu Hoku; he was in his third year at Akatsuki Academy and this was his first day back after a longer stay at the hospital due to a car accident.

Kakuzu was a tall guy, always wearing his school uniform (black dress pants, red shirt, black jacket) in a neat way, tan skin peeking out from behind dark brown hair and a mask covering the lower part of his face. He looked a little old for his age, with broad shoulders, and every bit like a man, not a boy.

As he entered his classroom, he sat down next to the only guy he got along with: Kisame Hoshigaki.

Kisame was of the same build as Kakuzu, though a little taller, with dark blue hair, small eyes and very pale skin that even appeared blue at times; he was the captain of the swimming team, the only sports club in Akatsuki Academy that actually had enough participants to form a team.

"Glad to see you're back. What's with the mask?"

Kakuzu didn't bother to reply, he simply grunted.

"You moving back into the dorms?"

"My things are being moved there as we speak."

"Good." Kisame grinned. "Not having a roommate was starting to suck."

"Has anything interesting happened during my absence?"

Kisame shrugged. "There's a new guy in Itachi-san's class. He's kind of a weirdo, though…"

Now, Kakuzu was a simple man; what didn't concern him, he didn't care about. This applied to things as well as people, and thus, Kisame's information was irrelevant to him.

"Ah, Kakuzu-kun!"

Kakuzu looked up calmly, spotting their headmaster Madara Uchiha standing in the doorway. "Good morning, Uchiha-sensei."

"Good morning. Listen, I know you only just came back, but do you think you could do me a favour? Cash is involved."

At the mention of money, Kakuzu immediately perked up. "What is the favour and how much?"

"Tutoring someone in Spanish, 15 an hour."

"Es un placer hacer negocios con usted, Senor Uchiha."

Madara smirked. "Alright, he'll be meeting you in the library at 5. Now study hard!"

Kisame sweatdropped. "You're so greedy, Kakuzu."

Kakuzu glared at him. "Money is important."

"Your family is rich. What would you possibly need money for?"

Kakuzu's glare darkened even further. "That isn't any of your business. Buzz off."

--

Hidan yawned loudly, sitting on a desk in the library; it wasn't as if the librarian, Konan, really gave a shit as long as you didn't harm her precious books.

Why was he even here? He should just ditch. He didn't _care_ about Spanish, and having to learn half a year's worth of the class in time for the finals was impossible, anyway. That was what he got for entering the Academy in the middle of the school year. Stupid fucking piece of shit.

He looked left and right; neither Konan, nor any of the teachers were in sight. He could just escape to his dorm room and pretend to be sick – but then again, his roommate Tobi Uchiha was a fucking moron and super annoying, too.

Why the hell was that tutor even late? Weren't tutors supposed to be disgusting nerds who were always on time?

"Tu eres mi alumno?"

Hidan scrunched up his nose in a mix of disgust and confusion, looking up at the source of the voice; it was a tall guy with dark brown hair, bright green eyes and a mask covering the lower half of his face. "What the fuck did you just say?"

The guy sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "My name is Kakuzu, I guess you're the one I'm supposed to tutor in Spanish. Name?"

The white-haired boy blinked. "I'm Hidan."

"Which level are you on in Spanish?"

"Uh, this is basically my first fucking class, seriously. I have no idea why Uchiha-sensei insisted I take it."

Kakuzu sighed again; it was driving Hidan mad, the way Kakuzu could sound so arrogant from just _one sigh_. It practically screamed '_You're a moron and I'm so much better than you'_ and Hidan would love to punch that guy in the fucking mask.

"Alright. Can you say anything in Spanish at all?"

Hidan glared. "Hijo de puta."

"Thanks for calling my mother a whore. Now sit down properly and take out your books; we're starting with sentence structure."

--

After one hour, Hidan and Kakuzu found out they had one thing in common: they hated each other's guts.

"Dios mio! For the millionth time, Hidan, the double l is pronounced like a y, not an l! Me llamo Kakuzu, me yamo Kakuzu, not me lamo Kakuzu!"

Kakuzu quickly realized that, handsome though Hidan looked for a sixteen year old, he wasn't the brightest in the bunch. He lacked any kind of logical thinking and had zero knowledge. How the hell had he even made it into the academy?

Hidan smirked. "Me LAMO Hidan. Kay tal?"

Kakuzu growled; he had actually been raised bilingual, seeing that his father was Japanese and his mother Hispanic, and to hear someone butcher the language his mother spoke so badly and _on purpose_ made his blood boil.

"No tienes idea de cuanto quiero matarte por esto..."

Hidan's smirk just seemed to grow. "Aww, c'mon Kakuzu, relax", he cooed, pronouncing the 'relax' with a mock Spanish accent.

"That's it. No more. I can't take any more of you today." Kakuzu slammed his book shut and got up, glaring at Hidan. "By the way, you sound stupid when you try imitating an accent, not witty or funny." With that, he grabbed his book and turned around.

"Oh yeah?!" Hidan glared after him. "Well, your mask fucking sucks, seriously!"

--

I'm sorry if any of the Spanish is incorrect; I only take it in school, and though I love the language, I'm not very good at it TT

Translations:

Es un placer hacer negocios con usted, Senor Uchiha – It's a pleasure making deals with you, Mr. Uchiha

Eres mi alumno – Are you my student?

Hijo de puta – Son of a whore/bitch

Me llamo ..., que tal – My name is..., how are you?

No tienes idea de cuanto quiero matarte por esto – You have no idea how much I want to kill you for this

If there are any Spanish people amongst the readers who could help me correct the sentences, I would really appreciate it!

Anyway, please let me know if this story is worth continuing or not.


	2. Art

Disclaimer: I do not own „Naruto" or any of the involved characters.

About the title: It's the working title that I will change as soon as I have found a better one; Pajaros en la cabeza is a song by Ismael Serrano and means "birds in the head". It's a very nice song that we had in Spanish class; you should go check it out on youtube!

Warnings: AU

Pairings: Mainly KakuzuHidan

Thanks to Kaz-san for helping me with the Spanish in this chapter, and Sifu Smel who corrected the Spanish in the first chapter!

-

Five days, each day he spent one hour tutoring Hidan, and Hidan hadn't shown _any_ progress.

Well. It _could_ be because they mainly kept throwing insults at each other rather than studying, but, y'know. It was Hidan's fault that he was stupid.

"Tú are ugly."

"Es mejor que ser estúpido."

Hidan glared at Kakuzu darkly. "I understood 'estúpido', asshole."

Kakuzu smirked back – not that anyone could see it, since most of his face was still hidden behind that mysterious mask. "Good."

Hidan huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I fucking hate you, seriously. You're a fucking smug bastard and a fucking nerd. Why do you even put up with me? You fucking hate my guts!"

"I get 15 bucks an hour for this."

"…fucking money-whore."

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "I am deeply hurt by your intellectually challenging insults. I am weeping on the inside. Can you hear it?"

"You –"

"Ah, shh, listen and maybe you can hear how much I'm sobbing on the inside."

"YOU'RE GOING TO FUCKING HELL!"

Kakuzu's smirk grew, and he was actually starting to wish Hidan could see it. "Only Christians go to hell."

"FUCKING HEATHEN!"

"You know, for an apparently religious person you sure swear a lot."

Hidan balled his hands into fists, itching to punch Kakuzu. "God doesn't give a fuck about swearing!"

"What's the point of believing in God when you don't follow the guidelines of your religion?"

Hidan rolled his eyes. "Just for your information, I do follow my belief, just not in fucking extremes."

"Oh, please, continue, I am _so_ interested in this."

"Just teach me fucking Spanish, you fucking bastard!"

"I bet you can't go the rest of the lesson without swearing."

"Can too!"

"I bet five bucks you can't."

Hidan halted at this, looking like he was caught off guard for a moment, before looking away a light shimmer of pink on his cheeks. "I don't bet on money."

Kakuzu smirked. "Because you know you can only lose this bet."

Hidan glared darkly at him. "I bet the fucking buttons on my jacket that I can go the rest of the lesson without swearing."

Kakuzu snorted. "A bet without money isn't worth anything."

"The buttons on my jacket _and_ my pants button."

Kakuzu rolled his eyes and sighed. "Add your shoelaces and we have a bet."

"Deal."

They shook hands, both smirking because they were convinced they could win the bet, and went back to their lesson.

"Conjuga "ser" en el presente."

Hidan rolled his eyes. "Yo soy… tu eres… él es… nosotros somos, vosotros errr... vosotros... " He clicked his tongue in thought, clearly annoyed. "Vosotros…"

_Come on_, Kakuzu thought, smirking on the inside though he kept on his pokerface. _You're frustrated, say 'damn' or 'fuck' already… _

"Sois! Vosotros sois, ellos son!"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes, annoyed with Hidan's success. The lesson was going to be over in a matter of five minutes at most, too… "Whatever, it's correct."

"In your face!" Hidan grinned, doing a little happy dance in his seat. "And I'm gonna win the bet! Fuck yeah!"

"…"

"…Crap."

Kakuzu smirked. "Seems like I got myself some new buttons and shoelaces."

"I fucking hate you."

"I hate you more."

"Smug bastard."

"Idiot."

--

"Hidan-kun! What's the meaning of this? Wear your school uniform appropriately! Button up your jacket!"

Hidan glared at the loudmouth teacher. "I can't."

"Of course you can, you're just doing this to spite me!"

"God fucking damnit, do you really think I give enough of a fuck about you to actually want to spite you?! You're insignificant, you fucking heathen, you hear me?! Insignificant!"

Of course, Hidan's outburst would have been a lot more meaningful if his button-less pants didn't fall down to his ankles at that exact moment.

"HIDAN-KUN!"

Kakuzu, who had happened to be in the same hall that the teacher noticed Hidan in, couldn't help it. Uncharacteristically, he burst out laughing.

Hidan immediately recognized Kakuzu's voice and whirled around with a dark glare, face flushed. "You fucking piece of –" He wanted to take a step towards Kakuzu, but since his shoes now lacked shoelaces, they were too big, and thus, his feet simply slipped out of them, and with the pants around his ankles there was only one thing that could happen.

He fell flat on his face.

--

"I fucking hate him!"

Tobi sweatdropped. "Don't you think you're exaggerating a little, Hidan-san…?"

Hidan glared. "I got detention because of him, Tobi!"

"Well technically, you got detention because you swore at a teacher."

Hidan's glare darkened. "Stop being such a fucking good boy, Tobi!"

The boy who was fond of wearing an orange mask sweatdropped. "But… I'm the headmaster's nephew, I've got to behave…"

Hidan huffed. "All the more reason to rebel!"

Tobi sighed. "I don't get you, Hidan-san… your parents must be really strict if you rebel this much."

"Well you're not supposed to fucking understand me!" Hidan grabbed his Spanish book and threw it at Tobi, successfully hitting the masked boy in the head. "Plus, you're a freak yourself with that mask, so don't fucking judge me!"

Tobi sniffled. "Abuse, abuse! I should go tell Deidara-senpai!"

Hidan sweatdropped. "First off, why would she care? She's annoyed by you. And second off, you're going to go crying to a fucking _girl_? That's fucking pathetic, seriously."

"Deidara-senpai may be a girl, but she kicks butt!" Tobi nodded decisively.

Hidan rolled his eyes. "'Cause she's a fucking lesbian."

"Is not!"

"Sorry to pop your dream bubble in which you marry her and have lots of retarded babies, but she's fucking Sasori. I saw them making out in the girl's bathroom. It was fucking hot, too."

"…What were you doing in the girl's bathroom, Hidan-san?"

"If you ask me that again, I'll tell Deidara that you stole her panties. She really liked the ones with the raspberries on them, just so you fucking know."

Tobi gasped. "You wouldn't!"

"Fuck yeah, I would."

Tobi actually glared, which was a rarity in itself. "I never thought I would say this to anyone, but I hate you, Hidan-san."

Hidan merely smirked. "Get in line. And now fucking sew the buttons back on my pants and jacket."

--

"Kakuzu-kun!"

With a sigh, Kakuzu turned around to face his headmaster. "Yes, Uchiha-sensei?"

The headmaster raised an eyebrow. "Has Hidan been improving?"

"Sir, are you sure having Hidan take Spanish is a good choice? He's the least linguistically talented person I have ever met in my entire life."

"…That means he's not doing well, doesn't it?"

Kakuzu sighed. "He can't say _anything_ in Spanish, Sir."

Madara smacked his lips. "Well, Kakuzu-kun, it is rather important for me that Hidan doesn't fail, so… if he fails Spanish, you're not getting paid."

"What?!"

"Oh gee, look at the time, I gotta go, bye!"

"SIR!"

But Madara was already far, faaaar gone.

--

"Let's see… it's November 9th; Nagato-sensei will probably write a Spanish test before Christmas break, then one before spring break, and of course, one at the end of the year. If he handles your class like mine, the first test will be about grammar, the second one about text comprehension, and the exam a mix. That means for now, we are going to focus on grammar; since it is your first year, the grammar's easy. Verb conjugating, some irregular verbs… you only came three months late; there isn't much you could have missed."

Hidan blinked. "You… sound creepily motivated, seriously."

Kakuzu glared. "Do your best. If you fail this test, I am going to kill you."

The silver-haired boy gave Kakuzu a traumatized look. "Are you… _concerned_ about whether I fail and get kicked out of school?"

"Don't flatter yourself. If you fail, I'm not getting paid!"

"You fucking moneywhore! You are _so_ going to hell!" Hidan grabbed a bible from the library shelves and smacked Kakuzu in the shoulder. "Beg for forgiveness for your sins!"

"What?!"

"Confess and convert and maybe God will forgive you for your greed!"

"The fuck I'm doing."

Smack!

"Convert!"

"Stop that."

"Do you believe in God yet?"

"No!"

Smack!

"Then I'll continue until you believe in Him! How about now?"

He smacked the bible right into Kakuzu's face.

"No, damnit! Stop it before I sue you!"

"I'm doing this to save your fucking soul, seriously, so be grateful!"

Smack! Crack!

"…oh, shit."

--

As it turned out after a small visit at the nurse's, Kakuzu's nose was not broken, only a little squashed, which gave more than enough room for Hidan to make fun of Kakuzu's now very nasal voice.

Sadly, though, it got them banned for the library and a long talk with the headmaster.

--

"Where the fuck are we going to study now?!"

"Your room, obviously."

Hidan glared. "We can't go to my room, my roommate is fucking annoying."

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. We're not going to my room, either, you'd just make everything dirty."

"Then we'll just fucking do it outside."

"It's November."

"So?"

"It's cold."

"Do you have a better fucking suggestion?"

"We can just take an empty classroom. Come on."

Hidan raised an eyebrow, staying rooted to the spot. "I can't right now, I'm already running late for club."

Kakuzu stared at him in surprise "Wait, wait… you… you _have some sort of talent_?"

Hidan glared at him, trying to smack Kakuzu, but the older boy sidestepped it easily. "Of course I fucking do, you moron, why else would Uchiha-sensei be so desperate to have me here?!"

"What club are you in?"

Hidan's glare turned even darker, violet eyes narrowed into slits. "Why the fuck should I tell you, you fucking heathen?"

"Because I am the student council's treasurer and thus have easy access to school files, so even if you don't tell me, I'll find out."

"…Touché, that actually is a pretty good reason. Damn it." Hidan sighed annoyed. "I'm in choir."

It was terribly hard for Kakuzu not to burst out laughing.

„I should have expected the choir boy to sing soprano in some choir… How stereotypical."

„I'm a fucking tenor, asshole!"

"Like I'll believe that. By the way, didn't you say you were running late?"

"…I FUCKING HATE YOU!"

--

As the school council's treasurer, Kakuzu usually didn't have much to do; he occasionally had to go to a meeting, but that wasn't often, and during project times people from the council often came running to him for money, but other than that, it was probably the club that gave him the most free time.

Since he had gotten banned from the library, Kakuzu had started making Sasori get him books from there that he read in his free time and in turn helped the rather short Sasori carry her art supplies around.

It was on a Wednesday night that Sasori asked him to help her take some stuff to the art room that they would need the next day, and because Kakuzu was a man of his word, he did as he was asked.

The light in the art room that night was for some reason dim, the only source being candles that were scattered around the room and a floor lamp where Deidara, Sasori's girlfriend, was sitting next to a table.

Kakuzu had to squint to squint to see anything, but from what he could recognize, Deidara was sketching someone laying on the table.

"Doing club work this late, Deidara?"

Deidara looked up and grinned. "Sh, you'll wake up my model, hmm."

Kakuzu, now interested, put down the box with clay he had been carrying and stepped closer; his eyes widened slightly when he realized that the boy laying on the table was Hidan, shirtless, with a dark blanket covering his lower half.

Hermoso.

Kakuzu swallowed; from the way the candle light accentuated every stretch of muscle underneath Hidan's pale skin to Hidan's completely relaxed expression – no smirk, no frown -, it was a completely different side of him that Kakuzu had never seen.

Kakuzu was comfortable with his sexuality; he was bi, leaning more towards men, and if only Hidan had a more bearable personality – with beauty like that, Kakuzu might actually have made an effort to get to know him.

It was the utter defenselessness that captured Kakuzu; Hidan was bared to him, face serene and body relaxed, and the image somehow just burned itself into his mind.

"How did you get him to pose for you?"

Deidara chuckled quietly. "Blackmail, hmm. Originally he was supposed to be sitting, but he kept on complaining about being stiff, so I told him to lay down and shut up, and he fell asleep. I'm not complaining though, hmm, because he looks great like this. Like an angel, hmm."

"His athletic build surprises me; he always struck me as lazy, but here he actually has some muscles."

"I know, right, hmm? And all he eats is ice cream."

"Ice cream?" Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. "But it's November. Why would he eat ice cream?"

"Beats me, hmm. He's crazy about ice cream." Deidara shrugged and set the sketchpad aside. "But I'm finishing for tonight, hmm. Are you going to stay or leave?"

--

When Kakuzu sat down opposite of Hidan in an empty classroom the next day, he was fairly certain that Hidan was not going to fail. He put his book down and smirked at the religious boy. "You are going to study."

Hidan snorted. "Yeah, right, and why would I do that?"

"Because I am going to buy you ice cream if you pass the test."

Hidan's expression underwent three stages in the next ten seconds: shock (How did Kakuzu know about this weakness of his?), excitement (He loved ice cream!) and suspicion. "Which flavor and how many spoons?"

"One tub. Any flavor you want."

Hidan's eyes lit up in excitement. "Alright, we have a fucking deal. Bring on the Spanish, bitch!"

--

Over the next three weeks, they actually seriously studied and Hidan made progress. Sure, he wasn't a linguistic genius, but he got the basic conjugations, some of the irregular verbs and sentence structure, plus some vocabulary, so Kakuzu was content; Hidan didn't need to be the best in class, he just needed to pass.

Hidan stared intently at Kakuzu as the older boy went on about the difference between ser and estar, which, after a while, made Kakuzu uncomfortable. "What are you staring at me for?"

"Trying to figure out why you wear a mask 24/7."

Kakuzu sweatdropped. "To kill you by making your brain overwork. I know thinking can be a bit too much for you."

"Holy shit, I bet you have fish lips or – oh my God. Do you have a pornstache?!"

The animosity, however, stayed.

--

One day, Kakuzu actually paid attention to Hidan in the cafeteria; he just wanted to know if the younger student really lived on just ice cream.

He was disappointed to see that Hidan ate cereal for breakfast, salad for lunch and fruit for dinner.

--

On the weekends, Kakuzu actually liked to do something with his friends; lately, he had used the weekends to catch up classes he missed when he was in hospital, but he eventually caught up, so he was, despite his emotionless expression, happy to finally be able to go downtown with his friends again.

They met up as usual; the three thirdgraders (Sasori, Kisame, Kakuzu) already waiting at the gates for their younger friends.

Next came Deidara, Sasori's girlfriend, and usually Zetsu, but he had had to leave the school because he was admitted to a clinic to get his schizophrenia treated. Because of this, Deidara was now the only secondgrader in their group.

Kisame had become friends with Itachi Uchiha, one of the headmaster's nephews, when he entered the school that year, and thus Tobi Uchiha followed his cousin along.

But when Itachi and Tobi walked towards them that day, there was someone with them – a bitching and flailing figure that got dragged by Tobi.

"Hey guys, I brought my roommate along! Do you all know Hidan-san?"

Kakuzu sighed deeply. "I just can't get rid of you, can I?"

Hidan glared right back, shivering; it was, after all, late November, and he was only wearing their school uniform while the others were in casual clothes and coats. "Believe me that I don't want to fucking come along, seriously!"

"Aww come on, Hidan, it'll be fun, hmm!" Deidara grinned at the silver-haired boy. "We're going to the movies to see a horror movie, hmm!"

Hidan looked excited for a moment but then bit his lip for a split second before taking on an arrogant expression. "That's stupid, I don't fucking like horror movies, so piss off. I'm not coming with you."

"Please, Hidan-san!" Tobi practically begged. "Just come with us once and have some fun? You never go out to have fun!"

"I have plenty of fun by myself! Plus, I'm fucking cold!"

"Just leave him be, Tobi." Kakuzu glanced over at the arguing roommates. "We'll enjoy ourselves much more without him, anyway."

If Kakuzu didn't know that Hidan lacked any sensitivity whatsoever, he could have sworn Hidan looked hurt for one tiny moment.

--

"Hidan-san stays in our room alone too much." Tobi sighed sadly, waiting with Kakuzu while the others stood in line to get popcorn and nachos. "Sometimes I worry about how anti-social he is."

"I don't particularly care."

"And he always wears his school uniform; I'm his roommate, and the only other things I have ever seen him with are his pyjamas and his previous school's uniform when he arrived here. He doesn't even have a winter coat; can you believe that, Kakuzu-senpai?"

"I'm not listening."

"He's not making any friends in our class, either… I just want to help him, you know, but he keeps pushing me away!"

"God, Tobi, _shut up_."

Kakuzu did not care. Anything that Hidan concerned didn't even go in one ear and out the other, no, it completely avoided Kakuzu's head; it did not register. At all.

This was the weekend, damnit, he shouldn't have to deal with anything Hidan-related.

--

Kakuzu did not enjoy that weekend; even though he successfully shut Tobi up with some threats, his head kept nagging away at him, which was unusual enough.

Kakuzu had always prided himself as a cold fish; he didn't care about anyone and didn't have a conscience, and it was good like that.

Yet, two images kept appearing in front of him when he closed his eyes: Hidan's serene face back then in the art room, and the hurt look when Kakuzu said they'd be better off without Hidan.

Apparently, Hidan wasn't feeling very enthusiastic, either, because when they went for their tutoring sessions that week, they didn't talk to each other except for study-related questions and answers.

Hidan wrote his Spanish test and passed. It wasn't a good grade, but passing was passing.

After a talk with Headmaster Madara, they agreed that there would be no more tutoring before Christmas break, which was only two weeks away, anyway, and Kakuzu thought that maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay again by the time he came back to school.

It was pretty normal that everyone left the dorms over breaks; Kakuzu was no exception. He was going to go home for Christmas, and while the prospect of spending time with his father was less than exciting, he was looking forward to seeing his mother.

That hope, however, was destroyed when he turned around on his departure day with the intention of saying goodbye to Kisame – an intention that was completely forgotten when he looked past the group of students and their parents, noticing one single figure hidden half behind a door.

The image of Hidan standing there all alone was burned into Kakuzu's mind the whole way home.

--

You know, this story was supposed to be angsty, but when I read it over, it's too funny. Oh well. Let me know what you think while I brood over finding a better title for the story!

Translations:

"Es mejor que ser estúpido." – "That's better than being stupid."

Hermoso – beautiful


	3. Snow

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

Warnings: Still AU. Hidan still has a potty mouth.

Okay, before starting with the chapter, I would like to ask you guys to stop asking when I update. I have a job, I go to school, I have a family, I have friends, and all of them need my attention. Over the next two weeks, I write five exams, some in languages I'm not particularly good at, and it just won't work without studying. Plus, this chapter was very hard to write for me.

Thanks so much to Kaz-san who still helps me with the Spanish!

--

"Ah, Kakuzu, it's good to see you."

Kakuzu nodded at the man standing in front of him, actually a little shorter than himself. "Father."

Kakuzu's father studied his son for a long moment. "When will you not need the mask anymore? Nevermind. You must be tired from the trip; proceed to your room, the maid will take care of your suitcase."

"I want to see Mother first."

The two glared at each other for a moment, neither giving in. "She's not feeling very well. Leave her be."

"I'm always well enough to greet my son, cariño."

Father and son turned to the newcomer in surprise; it was a woman in perhaps her fourties, looking attractive for her age with long, dark brown hair and tan skin. The first thing one might notice about her, though, was that she was in a wheelchair.

She smiled happily at Kakuzu. "When do I get to see that handsome face? Take the mask off, Cielo."

Kakuzu couldn't help it; a small smile stole itself onto his face as he pulled the mask down slightly before leaning down to kiss his mother's cheek. "Hi, Mom."

--

This was stupid. It was ridiculous, it made no sense at all, and it _sucked._

And yet, Kakuzu found himself going back to school a week earlier than he needed to.

He couldn't get rid of the guilt, no matter what he did; when he studied, he thought about Hidan. When he talked to his parents, he thought about Hidan. It was as though there was no escape; everywhere, Hidan!

But it wasn't like he went back just because of Hidan; his father had to go to an emergency trip and his mother was needed at his aunt's house, so he would have been alone, anyway. But still – returning home the day before Christmas and the prospect of spending it alone at school kind of sucked.

Kakuzu entered the dorm, a suitcase in one hand and a tub of ice cream in the other.

"Kakuzu-kun? What are you doing here?!"

He glanced over his shoulder and raised his eyebrow at the sight of headmaster Madara Uchiha. "Uchiha-sensei?"

"What a blessing, thank God you're here! It's urgent – we can't find Hidan-kun anywhere!"

Kakuzu nearly dropped the ice cream. He sighed in an annoyed way. "That good for nothing idiot… he ran away?"

"We don't know." Madara sighed and ran a hand through his long hair. "This morning, he was still here, but then he just… disappeared."

"Could he have gone to see his parents?"

Madara looked surprised for a moment before letting out another heavy sigh. "No, he's an orphan… We already contacted his previous orphanage, so if he shows up there, they'll call us."

"Has the police been informed?"

"The police don't act until he has been missing for a certain amount of time. We're on our own. Kakuzu, would you help us…?"

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow.

Madara glared. "Fine, fine. I'll pay you if you find him."

--

Kakuzu glared darkly at the street ahead of him; of course, as soon as he had put his things away and left to go look for Hidan, it started snowing.

Kakuzu always hated the first snow; it was muddy and wet, grey rather than the pure white when it was actually cold enough to not melt as soon as it touched the ground.

At least he had a system; he had been looking for Hidan at all the churches he could find. The possibility of finding him at one was rather high, seeing that he was oh-so-religious.

"Sir, you really –"

"DON'T TOUCH ME, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"

"Sir, _please_ calm down –"

"IF YOU TOUCH ME ONE MORE TIME I'LL BITE YOUR FUCKING HAND OFF, COCKSUCKER!"

And oh, how right Kakuzu had been.

He didn't hesitate a single second; as soon as he spotted the familiar silver hair, he smacked the boy right up the head.

"Ow! What the fuck was –" Hidan stopped in mid-movement when he recognized Kakuzu, his purple eyes widening. "Ka… Kakuzu? What the fucking hell are _you_ doing here?"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes and grabbed Hidan's arm, dragging him out of the (thankfully empty except for them and a random guy) church. "Eres verdaderamente un coñazo."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?! Let me the fuck go! KAKUZU! I mean it, let me go or I'll bite your fucking throat out!"

Kakuzu acted completely on impulse when he picked Hidan up and threw him over his shoulder, carrying the kicking and screaming boy towards the crowded street.

"You fucking cocksucker! Son of a bitch! Fucking let me go you shit!"

He carried Hidan three blocks, not caring about the weird looks people gave them, before the kicking and punching got too much; he went into an alleyway and simply threw Hidan to the ground.

"You fucking asshole!" Hidan tried to get up, face twisted in pain. His voice was already hoarse and he was shivering; he was only wearing his school uniform, which was soaked, anyway. "What the fuck did you do that for?!"

"You are the most selfish person I have ever met, and I have met a lot of them." Kakuzu glared darkly at the other boy. "Do you know how worried Uchiha-sensei is?"

"Worried? Hah!" Finally, the silver-haired boy managed to get up, though his posture was a little pathetic. "He's only worried about having to find another fucking singer to compete for him in that stupid fucking choir competition!"

"So that's why you ran away? Because Uchiha-sensei is using you?"

"I didn't fucking run away, you fucking moron!"

"Then what do you call leaving without permission? Why did you leave?"

"It's not like you fucking care!"

Kakuzu's glare darkened even further. "I spent three hours looking for you. I'm cold, my clothes are wet, and I might catch a cold. Tell me again that I don't care."

Hidan looked visibly surprised at this, as though he had really thought that Kakuzu had only come to annoy him. He bit his lip, looking away guiltily. "I just… I was gonna go back…"

"Then why didn't you tell Uchiha-sensei you were going to leave? Where were you even going to go?"

"I…" Hidan swallowed and pressed his lips together in thought. "I don't have to answer you…"

Kakuzu snorted. "Typical. You're so stubborn because you know what you did made no sense and now you're too afraid to tell me because you don't want to look bad."

"Oh stop fucking acting like you know me! You don't know shit about me!" And there it was again, that pissed off, almost psychopathic look in Hidan's eyes as he yelled at Kakuzu. „You want to know where I went?! I went to the fucking orphanage I grew up in because I didn't want to be alone on fucking Christmas and I was hoping they'd be glad I came and that maybe they fucking missed me, but they fucking didn't! Are you fucking happy now?!"

Kakuzu was stunned to silence.

Hidan snorted, tears building in his eyes. "Oh, that's right! Hidan as _feelings_! You really don't know any fucking thing about me, Kakuzu. No-one does. You're – you're just like those nuns who raised me. I heard them talking, earlier, saying I'm better off dead because no-one but God loves me, anyway. You don't understand, Kakuzu. Uchiha-sensei holds you in such high regards, and everyone fucking respects you. You don't know what it's like when everyone always just treats you like you're fucking filth. You don't."

Hidan didn't really know what to expect from his outburst, but he sure as hell didn't expect Kakuzu punching him right in the face.

"You are truly the most selfish, self-righteous and idiotic guy I have ever met," he said darkly and watched Hidan hold his hand to his bleeding nose. "You want respect? Earn it. Do you really think your life is the only painful one? I'll tell you what's painful. Losing your parents and being raised by your grandmother and kicked out for being a lesbian, that's painful. Having a deathly disease and knowing it could kill you any moment, that's painful. Slowly going insane and knowing it, that's painful. Seeing your mother in a wheelchair because you asked her to drive faster, that's painful."

"You think it was easy growing up in an orphanage?!" Hidan didn't hesitate; he punched Kakuzu right in the chest. "My parents didn't fucking die, they didn't _want _me! They left me at an orphanage when I was only a baby!"

"Of course it was painful! Life is painful, get used to it!" Kakuzu growled, blocking another punch and trying to push Hidan away. "But you can't expect others to respect you if you don't respect them!"

Hidan kicked at Kakuzu's legs, but slipped on the wet snow, making the both of them fall to the ground in a tangled mess of limbs; he wasn't even sure anymore who he was punching because his own skin was so numb from the cold. "Why should I fucking respect others?! They just expect me to be failure, anyway!"

"And you're doing exactly what they expect. Get some balls and grow up."

Their brawl went on until both boys were thoroughly soaked and out of breath, panting insults at each other halfheartedly. Eventually, they started exchanging profanities, lying on their backs.

"Atheist cocksucker."

"Hijo de puta."

"Fucking Mexican."

"…I'm not Mexican."

"Oh go hop a fucking border."

"Te odio."

"Yo te odio más."

Kakuzu turned his head to stare at Hidan in disbelief. "Did you just… _speak Spanish correctly_?"

Hidan grinned at him. "You fucking bet."

Kakuzu decided that he liked Hidan's grin; he had very nice teeth, and it made him look less like a psycho and more like the sixteen year old kid he actually was. He opened his mouth to say something when suddenly cellphone rang.

He sighed, quickly pulling it out of the pocket of his coat. He had completely forgotten about calling Madara. "Yes? Yes, I found him. He's fine. No, we'll walk, it's fine."

The grin disappeared from Hidan's face and was replaced with a sour look. "Old man Uchiha, eh? I guess we better get going, or he'll cut my allowance…"

--

Back at the Academy, Madara went into hysterics when he yelled at Hidan. Hidan was a little surprise that the words "singing" and "competition" didn't leave the headmaster's mouth once.

After silently enduring Madara's scolding and receiving punishment in form of being grounded for the rest of winter break, Hidan was sent to his room.

Before he disappeared around the corner, though, he looked over his shoulder and at Kakuzu.

"Oi, money-whore."

The so-called money-whore glared. "What?"

Hidan threw him a grin. "Thanks."

Kakuzu blinked, looking after the silver-haired boy in surprise for a moment before sighing.

Great, another image to add to the gallery that haunted Kakuzu's mind: Hidan's grin.


	4. Hallelujah

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

Warnings: Still AU, still rated for swearing.

--

When Kakuzu woke up on the 24th of December, he was feeling mighty crabby. His entire body ached, his throat was scratchy, his nose stuffed and lungs itchy.

Great. Not only was he spending Christmas alone, at school, instead of with his family, at home – oh no. He was spending Christmas alone, at school, _sick_.

He knew that the school nurse wasn't present during winter break (or any breaks, for that matter), so he wrapped himself in his thick winter coat, put on his mask, scarf, glove and even a wool hat and made his way out the door, ready to go find the nearest pharmacy that was still open.

A low grumble from his stomach made him pause in front of the cafeteria, though.

He wasn't sure whether he would actually be able to keep down any food – was the cafeteria even open during winter break? But there were coffee dispensers in there…

With a sigh, he opened the door to the cafeteria and was greeted with an epic site.

A cup of bad dispenser coffee? 70 Cents.

A Mars bar from the vending machine? 90 Cents.

Seeing Hidan try to beat said vending machine up for not giving him the desired Mars bar?

Priceless.

It took all of Kakuzu's self control to not burst out laughing at Hidan, who was shaking the machine wildly and yelling in a hoarse voice – Kakuzu figured that if he had caught a cold, Hidan must have caught the mother of all flus.

"YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT! I WANT MY FUCKING MARS BAR! I'M HUNGRY, DAMN YOU! YOU'RE SO GOING TO FUCKING HELL, SERIOUSLY!"

Kakuzu leaned against the doorframe, smirking. "I bet you're scaring it so much with that one. I heard vending machines are extremely pious."

Hidan whirled around, glaring, and Kakuzu thought he'd only seen him in better shape; his cheeks were bright red, the rest of his face deathly pale, and his hair was a little messy. The best thing, though, was Hidan's nose, red from blowing it so many times. "Merry fucking Christmas to you, too, heathen."

Kakuzu's grin grew. "Thanks, Rudolph. Not breaking out into Christmas carols yet?"

"You want a Christmas carol? I'll give you a fucking Christmas carol!" Hidan glared at the older boy. "Jingle Bells, 'Kuzu smells, Deidara is a whore! Tobi needs to grow a brain and Madara even more, hey!"

Kakuzu snorted. "If that's how you always sing, you won't be staying in this school for long."

"That was my best performance, just for you."

Something behind them rattled, and seconds later, a frozen Mars bar shot out of the vending machine, hitting Hidan in the head.

Kakuzu just couldn't hold back. He burst out laughing.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD, FUCK YOU! I FUCKING HATE TODAY!"

Much to Hidan's pleasure, Kakuzu's laughter sent him into a coughing fit. To his dismay, though, he got his own when he tried laughing at Kakuzu.

When the two had finally recovered from their coughing fits, Kakuzu gave Hidan's Mars bar a scrutinizing look. "Don't tell me you've been living on frozen Mars bars for a whole week."

"Pff, as if." Hidan rolled his eyes. "Sometimes I eat a fucking Snickers."

Kakuzu snorted. "Come on, you're coming with me."

"What? Where the fuck are you going?"

"Pharmacy. And apparently, to a bakery."

"I'm not allowed to leave the fucking school ground, dumbass."

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. "Since when has being grounded stopped you?"

--

Taking Hidan, as it turned out, had been a huge mistake; the idiot just wouldn't shut up. He constantly complained about his cough, that he was cold, Kakuzu, the weather, people who passed them by, Kakuzu, heathens, Kakuzu…

They quickly found a pharmacy and they got what Kakuzu wanted. Kakuzu considered going to the shops, since he was in town anyway, but quickly changed his mind when he saw how crowded it was. Go figure; he never understood why people waited till Christmas Eve to buy gifts.

Hidan bit his tongue, rummaging through his pockets before finally pulling out some change; he counted it quickly and looked around before going to the direction of a small shop.

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. "Where do you think you're going? I want to go back."

"Just wait a fucking minute, seriously!"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes, but waited. It didn't take Hidan long to return, a steaming plastic cup between his icy hands. The silver-haired boy grinned happily. "Finally my hands are getting fucking warm…"

Kakuzu sweatdropped. "Why didn't you just put on gloves?"

"Uh… because I don't _have_ gloves?"

Kakuzu sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as they made their way back. "If you cut back on ice cream and hot chocolate, you'd have the money to buy gloves. And a scarf and wintercoat; I'm freezing just looking at you. No wonder you got sick." He paused. "Oh, yeah…" He went through the little plastic bag from the pharmacy, pulling out a tiny jar. He quickly opened it, dipped his finger in it and then wiped the cream off on Hidan's nose. "For your nose, Rudolph."

Hidan made a face, crossing his eyes to try to look at the tip of his nose. "Um… thanks?"

Kakuzu put the jar back into the small plastic bag and continued on. "Come on, I don't want to stay out here forever."

--

As a Christian, Hidan had celebrated Christmas every year, but not in the same way normal kids did; Christmas, to him, was all about religion, because he had never had anyone who gave him gifts or whom he could give any to.

That being said, you might be able to imagine the look on Hidan's face when he returned to his room after getting a (frozen) Bifi for dinner and found a little package wrapped in bright orange sitting on his bed.

Hidan looked left and right in suspicion, checked under his and Tobi's beds, but there was no-one there who was going to jump out and yell "YOU FELL FOR IT".

There was a Christmas gift. On _his_ bed. Adressed to _him_.

Hidan felt uncharacteristically giddy, then. He got a Christmas gift! It didn't matter who it was from – someone had _thought_ about him! Someone remembered he existed!

He didn't waste any more thoughts; he tore the wrapping off and, after a few seconds, held a tiny orange device with long white cords in his hands, a note attached to one of the cords.

_Merry Christmas Hidan-san!_

_Since Hidan-san likes music, and Tobi doesn't need it any more, Tobi thought Hidan-san would like to have this. Tobi left some music on it that he thinks Hidan-san might like. _

_See you soon!_

_Tobi_

Hidan stared at the little orange mp3 player for a few moments before slipping the earphones where they belonged and pressing play.

_I heard there was a secret chord that David played and it pleased the Lord, but you don't really care for music, do you? _

--

Kakuzu stared at the cups in each of his hands; both were steaming, one giving the rich scent of coffee, whereas the other smelled sweet, like hot chocolate.

He couldn't believe he just spent 50 cents on bad hot chocolate from a vending machine for Hidan, without even being asked to do it. Maybe he just needed some company; spending Christmas alone would be depressing, even for him.

As he made his way down the hall to where he knew Hidan's room was situated, he suddenly heard something – was someone singing?

„_Your faith was strong but you needed proof  
You saw her bathing on the roof  
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you  
She tied you  
To a kitchen chair  
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair  
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah…"_

Kakuzu's heart seemed to skip a beat before suddenly beating rapidly in his chest; that deep voice sent shivers straight down his spine, and the way the notes were hit and held so perfectly made his eyes widen in admiration.

Kakuzu didn't know much about music – he knew when something sounded bad or good, and this, this sounded _amazing_. This could not be – but it came from Hidan's room – how could a person as rude and vulgar as Hidan sound _beautiful_ like that?

He needed a minute to calm his nerves, which was a rarity in itself, before he finally pushed the door open; upon taking a glance around the room, he noticed Hidan standing by the window, earphones making him unable to hear Kakuzu. Apparently, he hadn't noticed Kakuzu's entrance.

Hidan's expression at that moment reminded Kakuzu of the way he looked when he was asleep in the art room; relaxed, at peace. His lips were moving slightly, stretched into a small smile, and his eyes were closed, pale eyelashes not quite reaching his slightly flushed cheeks. How could a small parting of lips like that create such a strong sound? How could Hidan – the Hidan who nearly broke his nose, the Hidan who couldn't go a tutoring lesson without swearing and cussed at teachers – how could _Hidan_ of all people look and sound like this?

Kakuzu wasn't romantic. Cheesy shit was a waste of time. He was bi, but that did not mean that he acted like a girl, and neither did it mean that he wanted an effeminate guy. He was bi because he wanted a guy who acted like a guy.

But why was it _Hidan_ who suddenly stirred feelings in Kakuzu that he never knew he had?

Okay, Hidan was good looking, Kakuzu gave him that. He was goodlooking in a manly way, with a square jaw and nice build. He sang quite beautifully, apparently. But he was _irritating!_

The singing stopped.

"What the fuck are you staring at me for, seriously? Are you some kind of pervert?"

Kakuzu, embarrassed at being caught off guard, immediately put his cold front on again. "I brought hot chocolate."

Hidan narrowed his eyes, turning off the mp3 player. "And where's the catch?"

"There isn't a catch."

"Oh come on." Hidan rolled his eyes, tossing the electric device onto his bed. "You don't do things just to be nice. I don't have money, so…" He gasped. "You _are_ some kind of pervert, aren't you?! If I take the hot chocolate you'll make me strip –"

Hidan earned himself a smack to the back of his head for that, and when had Kakuzu even gotten so close?

"If you don't take the hot chocolate right now, I'm going to throw it out the window."

Rubbing his hand with one hand, Hidan took the plastic cup with the other and sat on his bed, Kakuzu sitting down beside him.

Hidan took a sip of his drink, glancing at Kakuzu anxiously. Kakuzu noticed this and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Aren't you going to drink your fucking coffee?"

"I am."

Hidan beamed. "Then you'll have to take off that fucking mask!"

Kakuzu snorted. "No, I don't." He pulled a drinking straw from God-knows-where and put it in his coffee before slipping the other end underneath his mask, taking a gulp of the hot liquid.

"God damn you!" Hidan huffed. "One day, I'll see you without that fucking shit-ass mask."

Kakuzu smirked – not that Hidan could see. "Ah, right… everyone in this school has seen me without the mask, except for you because you came late."

Hidan raised an eyebrow. "So you didn't wear it at the beginning of the year?"

Kakuzu stayed silent for a moment, not sure how much he actually wanted to tell Hidan. Even if Kakuzu had taken a liking to the boy's handsome face, that didn't mean he was suddenly going to start trusting him. "I started wearing it during my absence."

Hidan smirked. "A-hah! That means I can just look you up in a yearbook!"

The older student rolled his eyes, setting his cup down on the bedside table. "The Academy doesn't have yearbooks, moron."

"Damn it all to hell!" Hidan tossed his by then empty cup onto the floor and pushed Kakuzu over, glaring. "I'm going to see your fucking face, and if it fucking kills me!" He tried to climb on top of the taller student, but Kakuzu wasn't exactly weak; he grabbed Hidan's wrists and pushed him right back.

"Damn it, I fucking hate your fucking mask! What if you had a girlfriend, how would you even fucking kiss her?!"

Kakuzu snorted, pressing Hidan's wrists into the bed and placing his knees on Hidan's thighs to get him to stop kicking and punching him. "That sounded like you were going to kiss me."

And then, for once in his life, Hidan had a smart idea. Seeing that his arms and legs were pinned down, he lifted his head, biting Kakuzu's mask and pulling it right off.

For a moment, Kakuzu was too surprised to react at all, and Hidan stared at his face with wide eyes.

There were huge scars on his cheeks; lines that went from his cheekbones to the corners of his mouth, surrounded by dots, indicating that there had been stitches at some point.

"…Holy shit, dude, what happened to you?"

Kakuzu was still too much in shock that Hidan had actually taken his mask off to get pissed off. "Car accident. I'll spare you the details."

"That shit must have ripped your fucking jaw off or sliced your face open or something!"

"Something like that."

Hidan kept staring; Kakuzu's grip on him was loosening, and as if out of instinct, Hidan lifted a hand, tracing the scar on Kakuzu's left cheek. "That must have hurt like a bitch."

Kakuzu was amazed that he didn't blush when Hidan's fingertips touched his skin; his eyes followed the movements of Hidan's hand carefully. "It did."

"You're… you're not ugly, dude, it's not a bad face. I always thought you'd be an acne-faced nerd, not…" Hidan blinked suddenly and kneed Kakuzu in the stomach. "What the hell are you doing, you pervert?! Stop molesting me!"

"Hey, _you_ were touching _me_."

"You were _straddling_ me!"

"Because you kicked and punched me."

"You didn't want to show me your face!"

"Yeah, that totally justifies violence." Kakuzu rolled his eyes, grabbing his mask and slipping it back on.

Hidan sent the older boy an annoyed look. "Oh would you just keep that damn mask off? I've seen what's fucking underneath it, idiot."

Kakuzu snorted. "And why would I do that?"

"You fucking suck."

Kakuzu was going to retort something about how witty Hidan's insults were, but then his cellphone rang. Annoyed, he slipped it out of his pocket and hung up. "Yes?"

"_Hey, Kakuzu. It's Kisame. Just calling to wish you merry Christmas and stuff, you know?"_

"Hm." Kakuzu nodded. "You too."

"_You having that fancy dinner again?__"_

"I'm not home." Kakuzu glanced at Hidan. "My parents were unavailable, so I returned to school earlier."

"_Ah, that actually works in my favor. I was going to ask you if you want to come back in time to celebrate the __New Year with the gang… but I guess asking will not be necessary." _

"I'll be here."

"_Cool. Everyone's coming back around the 27__th__ or 28__th__, I think. Are you alone in school now_?"

"No, Hidan is here."

Kakuzu could practically see Kisame grin. _"You're celebrating Christmas with Hidan?"_

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "I'm hanging up."

"_I'll take that as a yes." _

_Click__, Beeeeeeeeeeeeep._


	5. Fly

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Ahhh, sweet fall break! More time to write? Nope, I'm going on a vacation on Wednesday. I definitely want to put out another Happens for a Reason chapter out before I leave, so we'll see

As always, thanks to Kaz for the Spanish help!

And remember, reviews are the writer's bread

--

Sometimes, when he needed time for himself, Hidan went up on the school's roof; being up there relaxed him like nothing else.

It was times like when school just got too much again, when Tobi was being annoying or when he just got done fighting with Kakuzu that he escaped to his little sanctuary. Up there, it was so windy that it drove tears into his eyes; especially now, in the last week of December, the wind was so cold that Hidan was afraid his bones might freeze on the spot.

Unbeknownst to his roommate, he had stolen a bright orange hoodie that Tobi left behind; he wore it over his school uniform and it made him feel just a tad warmer.

Up on the roof, Hidan usually drew patterns on the floor with chalk he stole from some classroom, laid down in the middle of them and thought.

When he was feeling particularly down, he stood on the edge of the roof, spread his arms and closed his eyes. He didn't know how long he stood there – all he knew was that he felt as if he was going to take off any moment now, as if the wind would carry him away, all he needed was take one step…

But whenever he wanted to take that step, there were weights on his feet, and he looked over his shoulder to see what was holding him back, but there was nothing.

It was frustrating.

It wasn't that he was overly pessimistic and didn't see a point in life anymore; quite the contrary, he was a fighter. He had a dream, and he wanted to fulfill it. But sometimes, he just got so tired of living; the pressure from everyone around him simply got too much for him to handle and he wanted to let everything go, go with the wind and not think anymore. Fly.

He didn't consider himself suicidal; he was scared of dying, terrified. A part of him wanted to die and just be left in peace, be without having to live up to everyone's expectations, but another part of him was so afraid of dying that it froze his feet whenever he wanted to take that step.

Sometimes, he wished that it wasn't his own fear that held him back. Sometimes, he wished it was someone else; someone who _wanted_ him to stay, not because it was their job to keep him safe, but because they cared about him.

Yeah, right, like anyone was ever going to do that.

Hidan stared ahead at the snow falling all around him; he couldn't even make out the rest of the sky anymore. If he slipped on the snow now, if he took a wrong step because he couldn't see the ground anymore…

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

He turned around and went back to the middle of the roof, safe distance from the edges. His clothes were soaked and his skin numb and he took one last look at the edges before he went back inside.

--

"It's beneath zero degrees out there and you're eating ice cream."

Hidan looked up from the small ice cream tub he had stolen from the school's kitchen and shrugged. "Maybe I fucking like ice cream."

Kakuzu sighed, sitting next to him. "You're an idiot."

"And you're an asshole, we're even."

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "Seriously, though, why do you like ice cream so much?"

Hidan snorted, licking chocolate ice cream off his spoon. "And I should tell you that because…?"

"You've seen my face. That'd make us even."

Hidan rolled his eyes. "Fine, if you really care that much…" He set the tub aside, putting the lid on it. "Back at the orphanage, we weren't allowed sweets very often. I shared a room with seven boys, and our room faced the streets. Every day in summer, an ice cream truck would stop beneath our window, but we never had our own money, so we couldn't just go and get some. Then when Madara-sama picked me up there, we passed by the ice cream truck, and he noticed me looking and asked me if I wanted some."

"Touching," Kakuzu noted dryly.

"Shut the fuck up, you bastard!" Hidan smacked the older boy with his spoon. "It was the first time someone was ever fucking nice to me, okay?! That's why I fucking love ice cream and spend all my god damn money on it!"

"You know, instead of worshipping ice cream, you should respect Uchiha-sensei."

The silver-haired boy snorted. "I fucking respect him, seriously."

"Could have fooled me."

"Jackass." Hidan briefly considered hitting Kakuzu again, even lifting the spoon, but then lowered it again with a roll of his eyes.

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. "You don't seem so enthusiastic on fighting with me today. You even told me something about yourself willingly. What's wrong?"

Hidan glared darkly at the taller boy. "Excuse me for not being up to fighting today."

"You're forgiven if you tell me what thought is breaking your tiny brain."

Hidan narrowed his eyes, thinking for a few moments. He hated asking people for something; his face turned red and his voice got all quiet because it embarrassed him. "Can you… can you help me get a job or something…?"

Now, this was a surprise to Kakuzu. Hidan actually _wanted_ to work? "I thought you didn't care about money."

"Well I fucking need it and I'm not gonna go beg for it, so fuck you!"

"Yeah, yeah." The brunette rolled his eyes. "I don't think it's safe to let you babysit anyone, so… are you good at any subjects?"

Hidan paused. "Music, I guess… Literature and Latin, too."

Kakuzu stared. "You're good at _Latin_ and suck at Spanish? How is that even _possible_?"

This time, Hidan really did smack him with a spoon. "I was at a fucking Christian orphanage, you moron, I learned Latin since I was little, _of course_ I'm good at it!"

"Well, I know several people who might need tutoring in Latin. If you think you can handle it, I'll talk to them."

"I'm willing to try."

--

On the 28th, Tobi, Kisame and Itachi returned. Sasori and Deidara followed a day later.

"Christmas was awesome, dude," Kisame grinned, "I got a new surfboard! Mine broke last summer."

"Deidara's mom knitted a sweater for me." Sasori sweatdropped, looking down at the too big brown sweater. "It's… sweet?"

Kakuzu nodded slightly. "You spent Christmas at Deidara's?"

Sasori snorted. "Like my grandmother would have me home for Christmas. She sent me to a boarding school on purpose, you know. Much to her dismay, though, I met Deidara…" The redhead smirked. "I wrote her a Christmas card with a photo of Deidara and me kissing. She can suck on that, the old bitch."

While everyone shared their Christmas experiences, Hidan sat a little off, watching them. He felt a little out of place, like he didn't really belong there.

He was about to get up and sneak out of the student lounge when Tobi suddenly popped up beside him. "Hidan-san! Did you get my gift?"

Hidan blushed bright red, nodding. "Yeah… um, thanks… you didn't… you didn't have to, you know."

Tobi beamed at the silver-haired boy. "Tobi knows, but Tobi wanted to! Tobi likes Hidan-san!"

_Come on, Hidan, smile,_ he thought to himself. _Make an effort!_ "You can… you can drop the san, just Hidan is fine…"

"Aww, look, Itachi-san!" Kisame grinned, nudging his best friend. "Your cousin's making a move! Hidan-san is even blushing, isn't that just sweet?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "You're talking as if Tobi had a crush on Hidan."

"Well, he can't keep waiting for Deidara-san and Sasori-san to break up forever, because I doubt that'll ever happen."

"But Tobi isn't gay."

"That's what _you_ think, Itachi-san. He has a crush on a lesbian who acts like a gay dude."

Itachi sighed. "I think they hit you over the head at home, Kisame. Can we talk about something other than my cousin's sexuality?"

Kakuzu had listened to the exchange quietly, his glare directed at Hidan and Tobi. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but Hidan looked embarrassed and Tobi far too happy for his liking.

He got up, getting confused looks from Kisame and Itachi, and left the student lounge.

Hidan was talking to Tobi; he hated having to be grateful, it was just so… so embarrassing to have gotten a gift from Tobi but not be able to give him anything. Plus, he hated having to admit that the gift had made him seriously happy.

"Do you like the music Tobi left on it, Hidan-san?"

Hidan nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, I do… I haven't listened to everything yet, but I like what I've heard so far."

God_ damnit_, why did he sound so shy now?

He blinked when all of a sudden, a small ice cream tub was thrust into his fight, so close that he could feel the cold radiating on his nose. "What the…" He looked up, and there was Kakuzu, not looking at him, but holding the ice cream out to the silver-haired boy.

"…"

"Kakuzu, what the hell?"

"Just take the damn ice cream, idiot."

Hidan took it, blinking in confusion. "But I don't even have a fucking spoon."

"Oh, Tobi can – get you… one… Kakuzu-san, why are you glaring at Tobi like that…?"

"Everyone, listen up!"

Everyone looked at the grinning Kisame.

"We're all going to celebrate the New Year together, right? I brought booze from home – and Tobi, if you tell your uncle, you're dead – and we can steal some snacks from the cafeteria! We're meeting up on the 31st at 21:00 in my room, alright? Is everyone in?"

--

Okay, so it was now undeniable that Kakuzu had a crush on Hidan. He got of _Tobi_, for God's sake!

The question now was: What was Kakuzu going to do with this knowledge? He had two possibilities:

1. Ignore it and keep going the same way as before, hoping the crush will pass.

2. Try to win Hidan over.

In any other situation, Kakuzu would have opted for choice number 1. He did not have time for a relationship. Relationships cost money. Who knew if Hidan even _wanted_ to be with him? The younger boy sure kept on reminding Kakuzu of the fact that he hated him.

But this was different. He got _jealous._ Just the thought of Hidan being with someone else made his blood boil.

Scratch two choices. Hidan was going to be his, and Kakuzu already had a plan on how to go about it. He was, after all, a businessman's son; he knew how to manipulate his way to his goal…

--

**Step 1: Plant the seed. **

That day, there was no snow on the roof. The sky was sunny and clear, but it was still freezing cold. The sunshine made Hidan feel a little better, though.

He had the earphones of his mp3 player in his ears, the little device stuffed into his pants pocket and turned to full volume as he sang along on top of his lungs, moving to the rhythm of the music.

"R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me, R-E-S-P-E-C-T, take care, TCB! Oooh, a little respect!"

He whirled around, making his hair flutter in the wind wildly, and opened his eyes – and his happy grin immediately faded when he saw someone standing leaning against the door that let to the stairs down.

Kakuzu smirked at him, mask tugged down to hang around his throat. "Lovely performance."

Hidan glared, blushing, and quickly turned the mp3 player off. "How long have you been standing there, bastard?"

"Long enough, Cielo."

Hidan's eyes narrowed. "What the fuck does that mean? If that's an insult, I'll fucking rip your throat out."

Kakuzu rolled his eyes, still smirking. "I am deathly afraid, can't you see my knees shake?"

"Bastard."

"Cielo."

"Cocksucker."

"I'm sorry, but _I_ wasn't the one singing and dancing to Aretha Franklin. If one of us is a cocksucker, it's you."

Hidan glared, cheeks bright red. "Well, you fucking stink! You're an ugly, money-grubbing, Godless son of a bitch!"

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. "The other day you told me my face isn't that bad. Make up your mind, will you?"

"I fucking hate you!"

"If you hate me, who do you like?"

Hidan blinked, suddenly thrown out of his concept. "Like…?"

Kakuzu turned around, walking back down the stairs, but paused once to look over his shoulder. "There has to be someone you don't hate."

"I fucking hate every person on this fucking planet, you bastard!" Hidan yelled after the older student, but…

…but something about what Kakuzu said just seemed to hit Hidan over the head.

--

**Step 2: Gather information about the object of his affection and his "rival". **

What did he know about Hidan?

Hidan was 16, he came from an orphanage and he was a good singer. He liked ice cream and was religious – Christian.

It was easy for Kakuzu to look up Hidan's school file – his birthday was April 2nd, blood type B, and the topic he chose for his application essay was…

Oh. Now_ that_ was interesting. "Why God loves fags, too – what the bible does and doesn't say."

This meant Hidan was either gay, bi, or straight with a very high tolerance – something that Kakuzu didn't really expect, so he opted for gay or bi, which just increased his chances by a lot.

Tobi was… well, Kakuzu didn't want to say retarded, but Tobi was a bit strange. Plus, it appeared like he had been trying to get with Deidara for a while, now.

Still, the Uchiha was Hidan's roommate and seemed to be getting closer to him, so he was a possible threat that needed to be taken care of.

Thankfully, getting information out of Tobi was easy – especially on New Year's eve, after Kisame brought the booze…

Kakuzu handed Tobi a glass with a clear liquid. "Drink this."

Tobi frowned. "This smells weird, Kakuzu-senpai… Tobi doesn't drink, Tobi is only 16 –"

Kakuzu's eyes narrowed into a glare.

Tobi gulped the vodka down.

Half an hour later had Kakuzu sitting in the boys bathroom with Tobi after the younger boy had hurled his guts out. "You're baaaad, baaad senpai… giving liquor to minors is – hic – illeeeegal…"

"You won't remember who gave it to you in the morning." Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "So, Tobi, tell me about Hidan."

"What do you wanna – hic – what do you wanna know 'bout 'im?"

"What you know about him, your relationship to him…"

"Tobi doesn't know much… Hidan-san's never in his room, always out and mischievous, ya know? Causin' trouble all the time, my uncle tells me 'bout stuff like that… Doesn't have many belongings, he's poor… sleeps in his boxers… not that Tobi pays attention, Tobi's not gay… Tobi just wants to be friends with Hidan-san…"

"That should be enough." And with that, Kakuzu left poor Tobi alone to deal with his nausea.

--

Translations:

"Cielo" literally means sky, but in Spanish it is also a pet name, much like "darling".


	6. Shoes

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.

I apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but I wanted to post something before I leave, which is in 8 hours. I hope the fluffiness can make up for the length.

--

When Kakuzu returned to the party, Hidan wasn't there. He quickly made sure that everyone was occupied before he made his way out again.

He had a feeling he knew where Hidan would be.

--

The night was clear and cold, but despite his lack of a winter jacket, Hidan wasn't freezing; he had his earphones plugged in and was jumping around wildly, singing along to the music and rocking out. It had stopped snowing a couple of minutes ago, so the ground was slippery and wet, making Hidan tumble every now and then.

"Back off I'll take you on  
Headstrong to take on anyone  
I know that you are wrong  
Headstrong we're headstrong…"

He had chosen to stay outside because he needed to clear his thoughts, and, well. Okay. Okay, he was uncomfortable when Kakuzu was around, now.

Just what the hell had Kakuzu meant by "not hate" someone? Hidan lived on hate; he ate and drank hate, breathed it, bathed in it and was happy with that.

When Hidan wanted to be in Kakuzu's presence when the other was absent, it was because he wanted to piss him off because he hated him. He did not like Kakuzu's presence, in general; he just enjoyed annoying him.

When he was with Kakuzu, he was not happy because he liked being with Kakuzu. He was happy because Kakuzu was miserable. That was the only reason he liked spending time with him.

Right?

_Right?_

God _damnit_, he missed that fucker.

He fucking missed him even though Hidan had chosen to leave the party and go up on the roof to clear his head on his own will. Hidan wanted to be near Kakuzu because his presence made him a little happier, but at the same time, he wanted to avoid the older student because he made him think about the nature of his feelings, and that was something Hidan just didn't want to deal with – even though the answer was disgustingly obvious, even to someone as dense as him.

"Back off I'll take you on  
Headstrong to take on anyone  
I know that you are wrong and this is not where you belong  
I can't give everything away  
I won't give everything away…"

"Someone's aggressive."

Hidan growled darkly and turned the mp3 player off, turning towards the source of the voice. "What the fuck do you want, stalker?"

Kakuzu raised his hands in defense. "Just came up here to catch some fresh air. Nice show."

Hidan blushed, glaring. "Why do you keep sneaking up on me, seriously?!"

The older student smirked. "Because it's fun to watch you make an idiot of yourself."

"Kakuzu you shit!" Hidan grabbed the nearest thing, which just happened to be his left shoe, and threw it at the other. "I fucking hate you, asshole!"

Much to the silver haired boy's dismay, Kakuzu caught the shoe with ease. "Aw, thanks, I love getting dirty old sneakers." He tossed the shoe over the edge of the roof.

"YOU FUCKER! MY FUCKING SHOE!" Hidan nearly jumped over the edge trying to catch it, but luckily, Kakuzu grabbed him by the hair and yanked him back. "LET ME THE HELL GO, I NEED MY FUCKING SHOE!"

"Be careful or you'll die."

Hidan's eye twitched with anger. "Let my hair go, you fucking piece of shit jack-off of an asshole!"

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow, but let go. "You should be worrying about falling down from the roof, not your hair."

Hidan whirled around, pushing Kakuzu towards the middle of the roof and successfully throwing him over. He didn't hesitate; he pounced.

The following struggle resulted in the removal (and tossing off the roof) of Hidan's second shoe, shortly followed by Kakuzu's mask, and before Hidan knew what was happening, Kakuzu had managed to switch them around so he was on top, pinning Hidan's wrists to the rooftop.

Hidan stared up at him with wide violet eyes, their faces so close that their breath mixed in puffs of fog due to the cold.

This was it. This was Kakuzu's chance to move.

Both boys leaned closer, though Hidan did it more subconsciously than Kakuzu, who full well knew what he was doing and their lips almost touched –

"Shit, dude, Tobi got hit in the head by a shoe! Someone call an ambulance!"

Both students blinked and quickly scrambled up, darting over to the edge of the roof and looking down. "What the fuck is going on down there?"

Kisame was picking up an unconscious Tobi, sighing. "He's just drunk, he'll have a bump on his head, he'll be fine tomorrow. You two go back to whatever you were doing." He smirked. "But not too loud. Oh, the fireworks start in half an hour, so we'll be coming up there, then, and I don't want to see you guys naked."

"Shut the fuck up!" Hidan glared down at the older student, his face bright red. If only he had a shoe he could throw…

Kisame and the others went back inside, and Kakuzu and Hidan stepped back from the edge awkwardly.

"What the hell were you even doing, asshole? Were you trying to kiss me?"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't kiss you if someone paid me to do it."

Hidan snorted. "_Please_, you'd do anything for money. Plus, you were _so_ trying to kiss me."

"I think _you_ were trying to kiss _me_."

"In your dreams, bastard!"

"I have much more pleasant dreams. The other night I dreamed you were mute. It was awesome."

"I fucking _hate_ you!"

"I don't think you do."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean, asshole?!"

Okay, so Kakuzu's plan kind of backfired… The problem was that if he started flirting with Hidan, the other would be too freaked out, and plus, just because Kakuzu sort of liked him didn't mean he was going to be _nice_ to him.

He went for the Kindergarten method: pick on your crush just to get his attention.

--

Half an hour later found all of the students on the rooftop, excited for the fireworks that were about to start.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven…"

Sasori placed her hand on Deidara's shoulder, trying to get the blonde's attention, but Deidara wasn't having it. "Danna, I need to concentrate on blowing shit up, un!"

"Six, five, four…"

Kisame and Itachi sent each other knowing smiles before looking back up at the sky.

"Three, two…"

Hidan stared in amazement as the sky lit up in more colors than he could even imagine; it was loud and smoke was rising from where Deidara was violently throwing firecrackers around, nearly setting Itachi's hair on fire.

Hidan could have complained about a lot of things at that moment, but for the first time in his life, he chose not to. Instead, he let Deidara show him how the firecrackers worked, clinked glasses with Kisame (it was actually Hidan's first time drinking alcohol), sang "Final Countdown" with Sasori, let Itachi take photos without flipping him off and, around an hour after midnight, flopped down next to Kakuzu, giving him a tipsy smile and leaning his head on the older student's shoulder.

"Feliiiiiz año nuevo, asshole."

Kakuzu snorted, but he had the tiniest of smiles on his lips. "When did you get your shoes back?"

"'Tachi brought 'em."

Hidan stared at his friends blankly; Deidara was giggling drunkenly as she got pulled towards the stairs by Sasori. It was pretty obvious what those two were up to, even to someone as inexperienced as Hidan. Kisame had taken Itachi back to his room a few minutes ago because the Uchiha wasn't feeling too well, and they had also checked up on Tobi.

"Everyone's gone now."

"…"

"Kakuzu?"

"Hm?"

"I'm really fucking happy."

Kakuzu turned his head with the honestly innocent intention of looking at Hidan, but apparently he had forgotten that Hidan still had his chin leaned on Kakuzu's shoulder, which involuntarily made the two students' lips brush.

Hidan blinked in an almost sleepy manner, but he didn't pull back.

Kakuzu stared at the silver-haired boy for a few moments before placing his hand behind his head and pulling him close, successfully pressing their mouths together.

Hidan was completely inexperienced when it came to physical affection; he wasn't really sure what to do now except close his eyes.

They stayed like that for a few seconds, just lips to lips before Kakuzu was sure that Hidan wouldn't freak out and started moving his mouth. Hidan was a little unresponsive at first, but quickly gained confidence.

"Oh my God! I told you guys I didn't want to see this!"

The two students quickly broke apart, bringing a good twenty centimeters between them and staring at Kisame in horror.

"We're wearing clothes," Kakuzu noted dryly.

Kisame smirked. "But who knows how long you would have still had them on if I hadn't come back up here."

"Speaking of that, what the fuck are you doing up here, jackass?!"

Kisame snickered. "Itachi-san forgot his scarf." He grabbed the piece of clothing exaggeratedly slow and, in slow motion, went back to the stairs.

Damn. This could get awkward.

"I'm not drunk," Hidan declared after a few seconds of silence.

Kakuzu sweatdropped. "And you're telling me this because…?"

"Because it fucking means I know what the fuck I was doing!" Hidan smacked him up the head. "Jerk!"

Kakuzu stared at the shorter boy blankly, not at all phased by the smack. "Was that your way of saying that you like me?"

"…No. I fucking hate you. Now kiss me again, jackass."

--

The song I used is "Headstrong" by Trapt, for anyone who wants to know.


	7. Affection

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.

Sorry about the long wait XP It's me, carriemehome, under a new name!

Muchas gracias to my beta, Kaz-san!

--

Towards the end of the week, all students came back, and the following Monday, school started again and everything went back to the way it was before the holidays – with a few minor changes.

Hidan now only got Spanish lessons with Kakuzu twice a week, and on three days, he tutored a kid in Latin, instead.

It was pretty cool, because towards the end of January, Hidan actually got money, and he was allowed to spend it the way he wanted.

So, on a chilly Tuesday in the first week of February, Hidan sat in the cafeteria with Kakuzu, going over Spanish.

"Dónde está la biblioteca?"

Hidan rolled his eyes, bored. "La biblioteca está cerca de la estación."

"Dame el libro, por favor."

Hidan glared, resting his chin on the tabletop. "Puedes meterte el libro por el culo."

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. "Why the bad mood?"

"Bored."

"Hm." Kakuzu glanced down at the book he'd been using dialogues from. "I guess you're pretty much caught up with Spanish…"

"I don't need these fucking lessons anymore, seriously."

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"…Make out?"

This earned the grey-haired boy a smack to his head. Kakuzu glared. "I'm not taking my mask off."

"You're boring." Hidan rolled his eyes and reached for a magazine someone had left on the table. "What the hell is Sweeney Todd?"

"Some movie, I guess."

Hidan narrowed his eyes and thought for a few moments before grinning. "Let's go see it."

Kakuzu snorted. "I'm not wasting my money on that."

"I'm fucking paying then, you fucking miser." Hidan paused. "But it's not a, you know. It's not a date, because I fucking hate you and all."

Kakuzu smirked. "Of course you do."

That comment got him a rolled up magazine in his face.

"So, Friday?"

"Friday. Seven."

--

"You're going on a date with Kakuzu, un?!"

Hidan rolled his eyes, but kept his pose exactly the same as before. "It's not a fucking date, seriously. We'll just see some fucking movie."

Deidara grinned, looking up from her sketch block. "What are you going to wear, un?"

Hidan snorted. "Are you stupid or something? Wait, don't answer that. I _always_ wear my fucking school uniform when I go out, idiot."

Deidara dropped her sketchbook, big blue eyes widening. "Are you serious?! Oh my… put on your clothes, un. We're getting you a new outfit."

Hidan glared. "I can't, idiot, I said I'd pay for Kakuzu, so I have to keep all my fucking money together."

Dei smiled. "I think you and Tobi are around the same height and weight, un."

--

"Fuck, I never would have thought you were like this, Deidara-chan." Hidan grinned, tossing Tobi's clothes around the room. "If you weren't a lesbo, I'd totally do you."

Deidara smirked, going through Tobi's pants. "What, un? Did you think I was a goody? Plus, it's a good things I'm doing this, hm – I found my favorite pair of panties in Tobi's sock drawer. Creepy, un. Here, try these pants on, they look tight."

Hidan caught the pants and made a face. "Why does Tobi only wear fucking black?"

"Don't know, don't care, un. Try them on already."

In the end, they managed to find an old pair of blue jeans that were ripped at the knees, a dark grey sweater and a thick, brown leatherjacket.

Since Hidan was of a slightly buffer build than Tobi, Tobi's clothes sat a little tight on him. In a way, that was exactly the effect Deidara desired; Tobi's jeans hugged Hidan's ass perfectly.

Dei smirked proudly. "Good outfit: check. Now, have you thought about not slicking your hair back for once?"

--

That Friday, Kakuzu found himself waiting for Hidan at the entrance of the dorms. He had never been one to dress up, and Hidan insisted that this wasn't a date, anyway, so he had opted for black pants, a white turtleneck and a grey coat. He had ditched the mask for a black scarf that he pulled up high enough to cover half of his face.

"Yo."

Kakuzu looked up – and his jaw almost dropped.

Besides wearing different clothes (which looked great on him), Hidan did not have his hair entirely slicked back; some strands were loose, falling into his face. He looked gorgeous.

"You know, you could at least fucking say hi, bastard, considering that I'm paying for the fucking movie."

Kakuzu quickly collected himself. "Hi."

Hidan smirked and nodded towards the gates, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket. "Let's go." He turned around, walking ahead.

The whole way, Kakuzu took to walking behind Hidan.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Hidan raised an eyebrow, looking over his shoulder as they neared the cinema. "How the hell am I supposed to know if you're listening when I can't fucking see you?"

Kakuzu looked up from watching Hidan's ass. "Nothing."

Hidan narrowed his eyes, turning around, and lifted his hand to smack Kakuzu. "Tell me, dickhead!"

Kakuzu caught Hidan's hand and used it to his advantage, pulling the younger student close and slipping his scarf down with his free hand before smacking a kiss to Hidan's mouth.

Before Hidan knew what was going on, Kakuzu was walking in front of him.

"Come on, we're going to be late."

Hidan blinked before running after the other. "Kakuzu, you shithead! Wait for me!"

--

Hidan ended up liking the movie, whereas Kakuzu didn't; he would have preferred to make out with Hidan in the last row, if he was honest, but Hidan kept on slapping his hand away whenever it got anywhere near him because he wanted to see the movie. Who the hell even went to the movies to see a movie? No-one, that's who!

Bitch.

--

"That was fucking cool, seriously." Hidan grinned happily, walking ahead of Kakuzu with his arms crossed behind his head.

Kakuzu merely rolled his eyes.

"You could be a little more fucking responsive, dickhead."

"Hm."

Out of the corner of his eye, Hidan saw something that caught his interest, and he quickly grabbed Kakuzu's wrist, pulling the other to said object.

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. "A photobooth?"

"I've always wanted to fucking get into one of these things." Hidan studied the machine. "How does this work?"

Kakuzu sighed and pulled him into the little cabin. He felt around his pocket for change and then inserted some into the machine. "You put money inside, choose a frame and then it starts taking pictures."

Ten minutes later, both boys stared down at the photos in their hands.

The first one had Hidan curiously tapping the screen and thus covering most of them, though you could see a little bit of Kakuzu's scolding face. The second one had Hidan biting Kakuzu's cheek (the mixture of being surprised and pissed off on Kakuzu's face was priceless), and the third showed Kakuzu trying to strangle Hidan. In the fourth photo, both boys glared at the camera, Hidan sporting a rather red looking throat and Kakuzu with a small bruise forming on his cheek.

"You should throw it away, it looks hideous."

Hidan snorted, putting the photo in his pocket. "So do you, asshole."

--

Deidara was having a serious talk with Tobi ("What the hell were you doing with my panties, hmm?!") when Hidan and Kakuzu returned. It wasn't too late; around 11pm. She grinned. "There the lovebirds are! How was your date, un?"

Hidan glared darkly at her. "I told you, it wasn't a fucking date! We just went to see a movie!"

She smirked. "Riiight, I totally believe that, un. So what's with the bruise, Kakuzu? Hickey on your cheek?"

Kakuzu snorted. "Keep your fantasies to yourself, Deidara. I'm going to my room."

Deidara leered. "What, no good night kiss for Hidan? Every good first date ends with a kiss on the cheek, un!"

The rest could be summed up with "Hidan did not hesitate to punch a girl".

--

February was wet and cold; there was no more snow, but a lot of rain – real downpours, thick curtains of water that you could barely even see through anymore.

Hidan stood on the edge of the roof; he had closed it eyes because the rain was stinging in them, and it made his other senses stronger: the sound of the rain was earbursting and the smell intense.

He shivered only a little, even though he only wore the shirt, tie and pants of his school uniform; his skin had gone numb a while ago, and he had goose bumps all over his body. His face was pale with the exception of his lips, which had turned a light shade of blue-ish purple from the cold.

He was too heavy to fly that day, with his rain-soaked clothes and busy mind.

--

The next day, during choir, Hidan broke down with a fever.

He had no other symptoms; no sore throat or cough, just a fever and the usual effects of one. He was ordered bedrest for a few days and Tobi was moved to Itachi's room for the time being so he wouldn't get whatever Hidan had.

--

With the excuse of checking up on Hidan, Kakuzu finally managed to buy himself some free time, and no, he didn't feel the least bit guilty about using Hidan's state to his advantage like that.

He sat on a chair next to Hidan's bed for about an hour, reading classics, when Hidan started stirring. So far, he had been quiet, sleeping calmly, but all of a sudden, he started mumbling in his sleep.

Kakuzu stared at the younger student for a few moments, at a loss of what to do. He was an only child, so he had never taken care of someone else, and his parents had always been gone, leaving him to take care of himself even when he was ill. He never minded; it helped him become mature and independent.

He couldn't help but feel a little pity for Hidan, though; the boy was getting more restless by the minute, sweating and squirming in his feverish sleep. Probably nightmares.

He knew that Kisame sometimes took care of Itachi when Itachi got fevers; he had been sick for a long time, and no-one really knew how long he was even going to live. He seemed to always draw comfort from Kisame, though.

The brunette set his book aside and narrowed his eyes in concentration; what did Kisame usually do?

Hesitantly, he reached out and placed the palm of his hand on Hidan's forehead. It was hot, but also strangely cold from sweat at the same time.

Hidan's dazed violet eyes opened slightly, staring at Kakuzu in exhaustion. "Kakuzu…?"

He didn't reply; Hidan probably wouldn't even remember this, he was too delirious.

"I can't fly like this," the silver-haired boy muttered, "my body is too heavy… If I try it like this, I'll surely die… that would be pathetic, seriously…"

What the hell was he even talking about?

"I wish I was immortal so I could fly all the time…"

Kakuzu resisted the urge to blink while Hidan stared up at him, quite for a few moments, before his sweaty, flushed face split into a smile, his eyes drifting close. "When you're with me, I feel a little lighter… so if you're here, I don't have to be immortal…"

What the _hell_ was he even talking about?

Kakuzu sighed. "Get those birds out of your head."

Hidan slipped back into sleep, Kakuzu's hand on his forehead and a smile on his face.

--

It didn't take Hidan very long to get back to health; a few days of resting and he was back to his old self. Kakuzu was kind of thankful; Hidan sputtering nonsense was kind of creepy.

Deidara grinned tauntingly at Hidan. "And Kakuzu stayed by your side, yeah, it was really sweet. You should've seen."

Hidan rolled his eyes. "That's 'cause Madara-sama probably _paid_ him to do it."

"Oh come on, don't be that way, hmm!" The artistic blonde shoved Hidan's shoulder playfully. "He's sweet! I bet he'll give you something for Valentine's Day!"

Hidan froze.

_Valentine's Day…? But wasn't that for…? _

"We're not fucking dating, you fucking dumb blond whore!"

Dei snickered. "Of _course_ not, how could I have been fooled by the fact that you went on a date, he stayed with you when you were sick and Kisame swearing that he keeps running in on you making out, un? Stupid blond me…"

"God will smite you, Deidara! _Smite_ you!"

--

The fourteenth of February came, and whenever Hidan saw Kakuzu, he made a point of going the other way.

Deidara was clearly amused by this; if you asked her, the best thing to happen that entire day (better than Valentine sex with Sasori) was Hidan running into a wall when he tried to get away from the cafeteria during dinner when Kakuzu approached, and knocking over a trolley table with pudding as he did so, getting himself covered completely in chocolate and vanilla pudding.

--

After dinner, Hidan hit the showers, feeling a little satisfied with himself. Even though he was covered in pudding, he had successfully avoided Kakuzu all day; if that didn't convince Deidara that they weren't dating, then Hidan didn't know what else to do.

He hummed to himself happily as he washed remnants of chocolate from his hair, feeling like this was his zen. Now he'd just stay in his room the rest of the night; Kakuzu wouldn't go in there, he would just be annoyed by Tobi.

"What the hell?"

Hidan blinked and turned around – and there stood Kakuzu, dressed in only a towel, and glaring.

_Shit. _

"This is my fucking shower stall; get your own, seriously!" It didn't really sound as convincing as Hidan thought it would.

Kakuzu's glare darkened. "You avoided me all day."

"I didn't avoid you!" Hidan grinned, but it was quite obviously fake. "I um… was busy?"

"You skipped Spanish tutoring."

"About that…"

Kakuzu pushed Hidan against the wall of the shower stall and silently thanked God that no-one was there to witness the violence he might just inflict to the boy's body. "I don't want to hear excused."

"Don't be mad! Kakuzu-chan!"

"Call me that one more time and I will _kill _you."

Of course, Hidan being Hidan, he couldn't think quietly. He just _had_ to mumble what was on his mind. "Better than getting fucking flowers."

"…What?"

Hidan actually had the grace to blush as he carefully tried to remove Kakuzu's arm from his chest – without success. "Umm, nothing?"

"You thought I was going to give you _flowers_?"

"It's Valentine's Day, dumbass!" Hidan finally pushed the other away. "Deidara said that's what guys do on Valentine's Day. Give flowers, chocolate, romantic crap!"

"Why the hell would I give you flowers or chocolate? That would be wasted money."

Hidan paused. "You… you wouldn't?"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "No, idiot. I always hated this holiday; I like to call it the day of commercial love. Plus, flowers are for pussies."

Hidan blinked. "Kakuzu… you just seriously made me want to kiss the fuck out of you."

They were lucky that they were alone, indeed.

--

Kisame looked up from his biology homework when the door to his room opened; he smirked when he saw that it was Kakuzu. "Two hour long shower?"

Kakuzu glared, and Kisame's smirk widened. "Oooh, shower with someone?"

Kakuzu didn't even grace Kisame with glaring anymore; he merely dropped down on his bed and placed his bag with bathroom things on the ground beside it.

Kisame closed his biology book, leering. "So exactly how lucky did you get?"

"That's none of your business."

"Come on! I'm your friend, you can tell me! Which base did you reach? I'm sure you guys have already finished second base…"

"I refuse to label it in such childish terms."

"…"

"…First half of third base."

"Hell, Kakuzu, you're the _man_!" Kisame grinned, holding his hand up for a high five.

It really did suck that Kisame had to go to the nurse's office after 10pm with a sprained hand.

--

Explanation:

First half of third base handjobs, fyi.


	8. Studying

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The songs used in the story will be credited at the end.

Anyone ever heard of this thing called writer's block? It hijacked my brain. What a cuntbubble.

This chapter is short, I'm sorry D:

--

Hidan had never had much privacy; in the orphanage, he had shared a room with several other boys, he had had no property, and here at the Academy, he shared a room with Tobi Uchiha, the headmaster's nephew.

It had never been much of a bother to him because he just didn't know what it was actually like to have privacy, and he had never really needed it, either; whatever he had done, it could be done with someone sitting on another bed, reading a book.

For the first time in his life, Hidan was desperate to have his own room so he could be alone with Kakuzu. God damnit, he was a _teenager_, he had _hormones_ to take care of.

It was hard to find privacy in a boarding school; showers were shared, and sadly, they weren't lucky enough to constantly be alone in them. It did occasionally happen, but it was rare. Tobi was hit by the studying crazy that arose in the Academy in March because of the upcoming spring exams and thus didn't leave their room much. So was Kisame, though.

When things got really desperate on a rainy day in the first week of March, Hidan and Kakuzu made out in an empty classroom, hands eager in each other's pants, until a flustered Nagato-sensei caught them.

The studying fever didn't leave Kakuzu untouched, though; a lot of potential sexytime was spent studying with Hidan tugging at Kakuzu's clothes, biting his ear and whining "Kisame won't be gone for-fucking-ever, put the book away and get your fucking hand in my pants, seriously" – until Kakuzu kicked him out.

On the 9th of March, Hidan was convinced he would never have an orgasm again because boarding schools sucked and Kakuzu didn't.

It did, however, make him resort to other ways to let out his frustration.

--

Madara sighed happily, watching Hidan's fingers glide over the keys of the piano energetically. "Hidan-kun, you're making me so happy right now! You're putting so much emotion into this!"

Hidan's eyes narrowed in concentration and he kept on playing, paying no attention to the few times his fingertips hit the wrong keys.

The headmaster beamed. "If Sound Academy hears about my musical genius of a student, they'll be so jealous…"

"Shut the fuck up and leave me alone! Go be a pedophile somewhere fucking else!"

--

Kakuzu liked to take his time with things; he wanted to do a proper job, so rushing was never a good thing. That was why he hated stress, and studying for exams was always stressing.

Usually, when he needed to relax, he sat down in his room, grabbed a book (classics were his favorite) and popped some Beethoven into his CD player. This week, though, he didn't even have time for that.

He rushed through the halls on his way from one tutoring lesson to a studying session in his room when he heard it.

A piano.

Now, as a fan of classical music, Kakuzu's favorite was definitely the piano. It wasn't annoying like flutes or unnerving like violins; the piano was simply perfect.

He looked left and right before going into the direction the music came from. Of course, the music room.

Before he even reached the door, a beautiful voice mixed in with the piano.

"Simple words we never knew,  
The power behind what they put us through,  
Now it's all begun  
What it takes to make it real.  
We're standing on the edge of this,  
When our soul is gone what will we miss?  
We lost what it takes to really make it feel

But the better days behind us now,  
We all need someone to tell us how  
To save the state of where we are,  
It keeps demanding more and more and more.  
And who will save us?"

Kakuzu peeked into the music room, his heart thumping in his chest.

He knew the voice. What he _hadn't_ known was that Hidan could play the piano.

A quick glance around him confirmed that Hidan was indeed alone in the music room; he closed the door behind them, prayed that no-one would come inside, and strode towards the piano, where Hidan was sitting.

At first, he just stood behind Hidan, watching long fingers glide over the keys, but eventually, he laid his hand on Hidan's shoulder. "I didn't know you play the piano."

Hidan didn't even open his eyes. "Cause I fucking hate playing the piano. It's for pussies."

"Then why are you playing right now?"

Hidan stopped playing and turned towards Kakuzu, but paused before saying anything. "I really fucking hate your mask. Take it off."

"No."

"Why the fuck not? We're alone, seriously!"

"Someone could come in."

"Fine," the silver-haired boy snapped and grabbed Kakuzu, pulling him down. "Then I'll just kiss you _with_ the fucking mask!"

Kakuzu snorted, trying to turn his face away. "Don't slobber on my mask, idiot."

--

Apparently, seeing Hidan's desperation loosened Kakuzu up a little; in turn, Hidan lost a little hope and calmed down somewhat.

They fell into a routine in which Kakuzu sat at his desk, studying, and Hidan laid on the bed right next to it, listening to music on his headphones. Occasionally, one would stretch to touch the other lightly; a brush of Kakuzu's long fingers to wipe Hidan's hair out of his face, or Hidan's hand squeezing Kakuzu's thigh teasingly. Sometimes, they met in the middle for a kiss.

Despite his crazed teenage hormones the previous week, Hidan was content. He felt completely at ease with music filling his ears, Kakuzu close enough to feel his warmth. He blinked sleepily, eyes heavy from being so comfortable, and softly mumbled the lyrics to the current song along. "Why can you read me like no-one else? I hide behind these words, but I'm coming out…"

Kakuzu finished reading another chapter of his anatomy book and glanced at the silver-haired boy. The corners of his mouth curled up in a tiny smile and he carefully took the mp3 player from Hidan's hand, turning it off and putting it on his desk. After a moment of thinking, he stole Kisame's blanket and covered Hidan with it. He studied Hidan's sleeping face a moment longer before going back to his book.

God, what the hell was wrong with him? He acted almost like his own mother; it was sickening! It was almost like he actually cared for –

He shook his head.

This was stupid. Of course he cared for Hidan, otherwise he wouldn't be spending so much time with him. They were dating, no matter how much Hidan hated to call it that; for Kakuzu, it was obvious.

Usually, after dating came two things – breaking up or love.

Kakuzu looked down at Hidan's sleeping form and silently cursed himself because it was so clear to him which one was coming for him.

--

Hidan stared at the notebook in front of him blankly.

It stared right back. Or rather, the eyes he drew on it because he couldn't think of any words did.

He glared.

The eyes got a new addition – eyebrows, making them glare right back.

He let out a loud curse and threw his plain grey notebook across the room, (un)fortunately hitting Tobi in the head with it.

The Uchiha sniffled. "Hidan-san, you throw like a girl!"

"Shut up!" He got up from his bed, grabbed the jacket of his school uniform and his mp3 player and stormed out.

--

Hidan had no idea how it happened, but he ended up standing in front of Deidara's room. He glared at down at his feet for daring to carry him right to the annoying blond, then glared at his hand which had, without his permission, knocked on the blonde's door.

There was some rustling inside, but after a minute, the door opened, and they enthusiastic girl grinned at Hidan. "Hey, long time no see, un!"

"Whatever."

Deidara narrowed her eyes, a grin of malice on her face. "You know, since _you_ came _here_, maybe you should a bit more polite, un, or I won't ask you inside."

Hidan grit his teeth. "Good afternoon, oh blonde of all fucking blondes."

She snickered, but opened the door wider to let him inside. "What's wrong, hm?"

Hidan sighed, and Dei was immediately alarmed; sighing was not something Hidan did a lot. "I don't even fucking know…"

The two sat down on Deidara's bed, the blonde with a frown on her pretty face. "Something not going well with Kakuzu, un?"

"No, it's… it's fine, he's studying and all…"

She raised an eyebrow. "So you miss him, yeah?"

"No!" He quickly shook his head. "We spend enough time together… plus, I wouldn't fucking miss that stupid –"

"Hidan," she interrupted, for once deadly serious, "cut the bullshit. Just tell me what's up."

He stared at her for a moment before sighing again. "I really don't fucking know… even though I spend time with Kakuzu – even though I kiss him almost every day – he just never fucking leaves my mind! It's like he put a virus in my fucking brain, ya know?"

Deidara raised an eyebrow. "Uh, that's normal when you're dating, yeah…"

"We're not –" Hidan clicked his tongue, annoyed. "Okay, so today, right? Today I was writing lyrics – and normally I write lyrics about social and political stuff, but not about… not about my fucking feelings, but the whole time I fucking tried to write, all I had on my mind was Kakuzu, seriously! I just – I couldn't – "

"What did you think about?"

Hidan stared down at the sheets for a moment, and Deidara carefully watched his face. "I…" Without realizing it, he smiled; it wasn't a smirk or a grin, it was a smile, Hidan's lips curled up at the corners and his eyes lit up with emotion. "When Kakuzu and I went to see a movie, we took some photos – I put them in my notebook, and whenever I tried to write, I –" The smile suddenly vanished and he cleared his throat. "Seriously, I ended up taking the photos out because they kept distracting me, but it didn't fucking help."

Deidara watched her friend, smiling happily. "That was art."

"…The hell?"

She grinned. "Your smile. It was true art, yeah. Fleeting… it's kind of sad. Sasori no danna said art lasts forever, and even though I disagree with that – your smile is too precious to be only fleeting, un."

Hidan stared at her for a good minute before snorting. "You're such a fucking dork."

She flicked his forehead. "Hey, stop insulting me, yeah! Geez…" She got up from the bed and went to a shelf filled with CDs. "Where is it… ah!" The blond pulled out a CD and tossed it to Hidan, who easily caught it.

"What the fuck is this? 'What's the Story Morning Glory'?"

Deidara smirked. "Listen to track three when you're confused again."

--

Songs used in this chapter:

Cartel – Save us

Fall Out Boy – It's not a side effect of the cocaine, I am thinking it must be love


	9. Parents

Disclaimer: I don't own shit.

Thanks to everyone who said they'd help fight my writer's block – it worked!

Extra thanks to Kaz for helping with the Spanish :*

Also, April 2nd really is Hidan's birthday, it's information from the Naruto Character Data Book.

--

The exams took place in the last week of March, which left them with one week left before spring break started.

It was on Thursday, the second of April, that Hidan awoke alone in his room.

Tobi was usually the one who woke him up, all up in his face and energetic, which always pissed Hidan off. He was _not_ a morning person, damnit.

He half expected Tobi to jump out from somewhere and kept on checking if he was anywhere in sight even while he changed – and snorted at the realization that he must have looked like a paranoid nutcase.

He couldn't shake off an uneasy feeling when he went to have some breakfast, but nothing happened.

He sat and shook his head, figuring he must have gone insane, and put his tray on an empty table before taking a seat and –

"HIDAN-SAAAAAAAAN!"

his face met his cereal. Nice to meet you. "For fuck's sake, Tobi, get the fuck off me, I'm drowning!"

Tobi blinked, climbing off Hidan's back. "Wow, Hidan-san, you can talk even though your face is in your bowl! …Why is your face in your cereal bowl, Hidan-san? Did you fall asleep? Great thing Tobi is here now!"

Hidan finally freed his face, glaring at Tobi with cereal and milk sticking to his skin. "I am going to fucking kill you!"

"Whaaah!"

--

Because he had to go wash up again, Hidan was late for class, and of course the teacher was pissed and gave him detention.

He guessed that maybe that wasn't too bad for April 2nd. Anything was fine as long as he didn't have to be alone.

Lucky for him, the one who surveyed his detention that afternoon was Madara. Madara would probably let Hidan spend detention in the music room, anyway.

And how right he was.

In the music room, Hidan stopped listening to Madara; he sat down at the piano and started playing.

"You know, Hidan-kun," Madara started, staring at Hidan, "That isn't why I took you here."

Hidan glared over his shoulder. "Then what the fuck is it?"

Madara chuckled, walking towards the window. "Do you remember when you first came here? It was towards the end of July, and you came in here, and your eyes went really big, like you had never seen so many instruments in your life."

"I hadn't," Hidan muttered. "At the orphanage there was a fucking old piano on which I learned to play, I think someone there had a flute…"

Madara smiled, turning around to lean against the closed window. "Back then, you begged me to let you learn every single one of these instruments."

"And you fucking laughed in my face."

Madara smirked. "M-hm. Now you have been here for almost a year… your musical talent has been showing; your vocals improved a lot, and lately, you have shown much passion when playing the piano. Because of that, I have something for you – a birthday present, if you want to call it that."

Hidan blinked, the sour look on his face disappearing. He whirled his head around, staring at Madara. "What?"

Madara chuckled and motioned towards an acoustic guitar leaning against the piano. "It's yours. Happy birthday, Hidan-kun."

--

Kakuzu was just finishing his essay on the Cold War when a bundle of energy burst into his room. "Kakuzu-san, hurry! Hidan-san will be back from detention soon, and everyone needs to be there for the surprise party!"

The older student rolled his eyes, getting up. "Coming, coming."

Tobi blinked. "Kakuzu-san, aren't you taking your gift for Hidan-san? Oh, Tobi gets it! Kakuzu-san wants to give it to Hidan-san in private to reveal his feelings, right?"

Kakuzu glared. "What are you talking about? I don't have a gift for him."

Tobi stared at him in disbelief. "But… Kakuzu-san…"

"Hidan never celebrated his birthday before." Kakuzu pulled the jacket of his school uniform on. "He doesn't expect getting any gifts, so why should I give him one? It'd be a waste of money."

"Because it would make Hidan-san very happy!"

"Look, kid. Hidan doesn't care about gifts."

"That's not true." Tobi frowned. "Hidan-san never celebrated his birthday because he never had a family or friends to celebrate it with. But now Hidan-san has us, and I think if we show him that we like him with that surprise party and gifts, he will be very happy… Hidan-san was happy when Tobi gave him a Christmas gift, and he was also very happy at the New Year's party…"

"Oh for fuck's sake," Kakuzu muttered, "just go ahead, Tobi."

Tobi nodded slightly and went to the door, but before he left, he threw a look at Kakuzu that sent chills down the older student's spine. "I don't think you deserve Hidan-san if you don't even want to make him happy. If you don't plan on saving him, why did you bother to help him up?"

--

"SURPRISE!"

Hidan stared in shock at all the people gathered in the tiny room he shared with Tobi. "Guys?!"

They grinned at him – five faces – and sang the "happy birthday" song without any embarrassment, as though it was the most natural thing on earth.

Hidan felt his chest go strangely warm when he was suddenly hugged by Deidara and Sasori, who each gave him a kiss on the cheek, and then Kisame gave him a noogie. Hidan was too happy to complain about his messed up hair and grinned at Itachi, who just congratulated him with a small smile and apologized on Kisame's behalf.

He had no time to look for Kakuzu (who was sitting on Hidan's bed) when Tobi bounded up to him. "Here's Tobi's gift, Hidan-san! I knew what Uncle Madara was going to give you, so…"

Hidan blinked and took a clumsily wrapped box from his roommate. Where had he managed to hide it in that small room?

He took a look inside and gasped. Guitar picks, a plain black guitar strap, strings, a tuner and a book titled "Modern Rock for Dummies". "Dude, Tobi… thanks, man!"

In his happiness, Hidan quickly set the box aside and hugged Tobi tightly.

Kakuzu watched the exchange with his usual grumpy expression, though his eyes narrowed into a glare at the display.

_Hidan was hugging Tobi. _

_And Tobi was hugging back. _

He got up and pushed through the others to get to Hidan and Tobi, pulling them apart so Hidan was whirled around and pushed into his chest. "The hell, Kakuzu?!"

Kakuzu sent a quick glare at Tobi before grasping Hidan's chin, pulling his mask down and kissing Hidan full on the lips (Deidara squealed, Kisame pretended to gag). "Happy birthday. Come home with me over spring break."

Silence.

"That's so romantic, yeah!"

"Dude, that's unfair, I've known you for three years and you never let me visit you for even a day!"

Tobi smiled to himself, knowing that even though he wouldn't be thanked, he'd done something good.

--

Because it was a Thursday and there was school the following morning, the party didn't go very long. Kisame helped Itachi to his room and promised to keep him some company there, Deidara and Sasori disappeared suspiciously, and Tobi went for a shower.

"So," Kakuzu started, sitting down on Hidan's bed next to him, "you never answered. Are you coming with me?"

Hidan glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. There were a lot of questions on his mind; they ranged from "_What are your parents like_?" to "_Can I kiss you in front of them_?", but asking any of them would have been simply embarrassing, so he held his tongue and nodded. "Fuck yeah. Can't resist your Mom showing me baby pictures, can I?"

Kakuzu didn't react to the silver-haired boy's teasing at all. Instead, he laid his hand on his shoulder and pushed their mouths together.

They stayed like that for a while, making out, until they completely forgot their surroundings; by the time Kakuzu's hands fumbled around with the button of Hidan's pants, Tobi could have taken two showers, but somehow he still hadn't returned.

"Lay down," Kakuzu instructed, pulling Hidan's pants down. "You better appreciate this, because I hate doing it, but it's your birthday, so…"

--

Tobi frowned in frustration, trying to get past Kisame. "But Kisame-san, I just want to go to my room!"

"Sorry, kid, no can do." Kisame smirked. "You're sleeping in my room tonight, and Kakuzu sleeps in yours."

Tobi sulked. "But why?"

"He's giving Hidan his gift."

Tobi gasped. "So he does have one?! What's his gift for Hidan-san?!"

Kisame snickered. "Something every guy wants for his 17th birthday, and you don't have it."

Tobi blinked. "…A Nintendo Wii?"

Kisame rolled his eyes. "No, dumbass, I'm talking about a blowjob."

The Uchiha nearly fainted.

--

"You suck at giving blow jobs."

Hidan glared at Kakuzu, and sipped on his waterbottle before kicking him in the shin. "Well fucking excuse me for that being the first time I ever gave one! And you came, so that's all that fucking counts!"

Kakuzu smirked. "We're going to work on it."

Hidan snorted. "Hentai." He grabbed a clean pair of boxers from his closet and pulled them on quickly. "I should have left you hard and desperate after you sucked me off, seriously. You're being a total fuckhead."

"Just get over yourself and come here so we can sleep."

Getting in bed together was awkward; even though they had been together since the new year started, they hadn't shared a bed yet. In fact, Hidan had never really shared a bed with anyone like this.

What was he supposed to do? Did he have to cuddle with him, or could they sleep on different sides of the bed?

Silly thought, he quickly realized. The bed was designed for only one person; there was no room to be picky.

_So I'll hold him_, Hidan thought, and lifted his arm to throw it over Kakuzu.

To his surprise though, Kakuzu had just come to the same conclusion, and thus, hands met faces that they didn't belong to with a loud noise.

"Fuck!" Hidan held his nose, which Kakuzu had accidentally hit, and glared. "What the shit was that about?"

Kakuzu covered his aching eye with a hand. "I should be asking you that. We need to find an arrangement for this."

After a few more clumsy attempts at finding a good position for them to sleep in, they ended with Hidan spread half on top of Kakuzu, the top of his head tucked safely under the older student's chin. It was only after Hidan had fallen asleep that Kakuzu dared to actually put an arm around the younger one, watching him smile in his sleep.

--

They took the train to Taki, the town Kakuzu came from, on Sunday; luckily, it wasn't very crowded.

Hidan was excited, staring out of the window and taking in everything he hadn't seen before. "It's been so fucking long since I traveled."

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. "It surprises me you have traveled at all."

Hidan glanced at him, hand still on the window. "Once or twice, the orphanage I grew up in took the choir to churches to sing."

"Right."

"Hey, jackass?"

"…"

"Why'd you ask me to come with you?"

Kakuzu closed his eyes for a moment. He'd been prepared for that question and was mildly surprised that Hidan asked now; he'd expected him to demand an explanation earlier. "We don't really talk."

Hidan blinked, confused. "Eh?"

"When you're bothered by something, you talk to Tobi or Deidara. Me, I talk to Kisame or Sasori. I think considering our… 'condition' with each other, we should be able to talk and open up to each other more. That's why I want you to come home with me; maybe we can understand each other better, then."

Hidan stared at him for a moment; he really hadn't considered that Kakuzu had put so much thought into it. "Heh… Not like I can take you to my home, though. Don't fucking have one."

"I know. For me, it's enough if you talk to me next time instead of to Tobi."

Hidan raised an eyebrow. "Why the hell would I talk to fucking Tobi?"

Kakuzu paused. "You… you didn't tell him about not liking your birthday?"

Hidan blanched. "Fuck no! Why the hell would I talk to _him_ of all people? He's an idiot!"

Kakuzu turned his head to glare at the seat before him. So Tobi seemed to understand Hidan without Hidan even telling him what he felt? "Apparently, he really isn't…"

--

"Mi corazón!"

Kakuzu smiled and kneeled down in front of his mother, taking her hand and kissing it. "Hola, mamá."

Hidan stared in shock at mother and son, who were greeting each other affectionately, and the whole time that he looked at Kakuzu's mother, Christmas ran through his head; it seemed forever ago that he had heard Kakuzu's outburst back then, but he could remember his words clearly.

"_Seeing your mother in a wheelchair because you asked her to drive faster, that's painful."_

"And that must be the friend you brought along!"

Hidan was ripped from his thoughts and nervously smiled at Kakuzu's mother; what was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to say? He had never learned etiquette; what if he said something that completely offended her?

…since when did he _care_ that he offended someone?

Damn it. Damn-fucking-it.

"Ah, err, hola…" Hidan cleared his throat, stuttering nervously. "Me llamo Hidan…"

Her eyes lit up, obviously pleased that Hidan spoke a little Spanish. "Bienvenido, Hidan. Puedes llamarme Maria."

Kakuzu couldn't help smirking when he saw how nervous Hidan looked. "E-eh… gracias… Maria-san."

Kakuzu's mother laughed happily. "Es lindo, Kakuzu. Tienes buen gusto."

Kakuzu snorted, still smirking. "Solamente espera, no lo encontrarás lindo por mucho tiempo."

Hidan shot Kakuzu a helpless look that clearly stated "I didn't understand a thing".

"Bien." Maria smiled at the boys. "It'll probably be easier for you if we don't speak Spanish, Hidan. But I find it endearing that you tried."

"Kakuzu."

Kakuzu looked up and the previously relaxed expression on his face immediately turned strict when he saw his father walking towards him. "Father."

Kakuzu's father studied his son for a moment before taking a look at Hidan. "And you are…?"

Hidan narrowed his eyes slightly; while Kakuzu's mother gave off a friendly, gentle vibe, his father seemed to have a stick up his ass, and Hidan was not someone who liked people like that. "Hidan San, pleased to meetcha."

"How droll," Maria smiled, "So do some people actually call you San-san?"

Before Hidan had a chance to reply, Kakuzu's father interfered. "You two must be tired from the trip, you should rest until dinner. Hidan-kun, a maid will prepare a guest room for you."

"That won't be necessary," Kakuzu interjected, glaring at his father. "He's sleeping in my room."

The foyer was suddenly filled with an awkward silence; Hidan stared at Kakuzu in shock, Maria smiled nervously, and Kakuzu and his father glared at each other.

"Well then," Kakuzu's father said eventually, "I have work to do. Don't cause any trouble."

--

"Holy fucking shit!"

Hidan dropped his backpack (the only luggage he had with him, in contrary to the fully packed Kakuzu) on the floor, staring at Kakuzu's room.

Not only was it huge, it was also freakishly clean; it didn't look one bit like the room of a teenager. The walls were plain white, no posters or similar things on them, and the only visible form of entertainment was a shelf with books, a CD player and some CDs neatly sorted in a box underneath.

"This place is fucking huge!"

"I guess." Kakuzu left his suitcase in front of his wardrobe, deciding to unpack after dinner.

"Rich bastard," Hidan mumbled and sat down on Kakuzu's bed, bouncing on it to test it out. "This bed is fucking awesome. Way better than my tiny bed at school."

Kakuzu remained silent.

"So!" Hidan crossed his arms behind his head. "I guess your parents know you're gay, then?"

"I'm not gay, I'm bi."

"What-fucking-ever. They know, right?"

"Yes."

"Your Dad doesn't seem very cool with it."

Kakuzu sat down next to Hidan, who was by then laying on his back. "He doesn't mind my sexual orientation. He just wants the crème de la crème for me."

"So basically, he's just not cool with _me._"

"Pretty much."

"Oh well. At least your Mom seems cool. She's fucking hot, too."

Kakuzu turned his head to glare at the silver-haired one. "Don't you dare to say another word."

Hidan grinned innocently. "What? Maybe I should ditch you for her!"

The resulting quarrel quickly turned from kicking, laughing and struggling into a make out session; Kakuzu was on top of the other, pinning the silver-haired one's wrists to the pillow. Hidan occasionally tried to free his wrists, but the rest of his body defeated the purpose of not wanting to be submissive by hooking his legs around Kakuzu's thighs, bringing the older boy closer.

When the maid walked in to announce dinner, she nearly got a nosebleed.

--

Dinner was awkward; it was pretty obvious what the boys had been up to by Hidan's messed up hair, their swollen lips and flushed faces.

"So, Hidan-kun." Kakuzu's father regarded him coolly. "Since it seems that you and my son are dating –"

Hidan was about to protest, but Kakuzu pinched his thigh. Hard.

"- why don't you tell us something about yourself?"

Hidan looked down at his plate, clearly embarrassed. "There's really not much to tell… I'm in my first year at the academy, 17 years old…"

"What do your parents do?"

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes, glaring at his father. "That's enough."

He ignored his son and only raised an eyebrow. "What are your objectives? What university do you plan to go to?"

"Cariño, that's enough."

He huffed quietly. "If he's not embarrassed, he's going to answer. Won't you, Hidan-kun?"

Hidan's fist clenched; he wanted to cuss that asshole out so bad and it took all his strength not to bitch at him right then and there; they'd probably throw him out and never let him see Kakuzu again, if he did that.

"Thought so. My son's too good for you, Hidan-kun. It's nothing personal against you, but my son deserves more than some gutless kid who can't even speak up. You know nothing about him."

"Shut the _fuck_ up!"

Kakuzu's parents stared at Hidan in shock; he had stood up, knocking his chair over.

The silver-haired boy glared viciously at Kakuzu's father. "You want me to speak up? Alright, here it fucking goes! I can't tell you what my parents fucking do because I never fucking _met_ them, but apparently they're shitty people because they left me at a fucking orphanage before I was even a month old! I got into Akatsuki Academy on a scholarship for music, I don't know what university to go to yet but I probably won't be able to fucking afford it anyway, and I have no idea what I want to fucking do professionally!"

Everyone stared at him in disbelief.

Hidan's glare darkened, but his voice got lower. "I don't know Kakuzu's blood type, his birthday or where he went to school before Akatsuki. Maybe I really don't know that fucking much about him – but I know that even though he doesn't show it, it makes him excited when someone talks to him in Spanish, his favorite song is Beethoven's moonlight sonata, he's a bitch in the morning, but if you whisper to him when he wakes up, he's in a better mood. So what if I don't know many facts about him? I know how to fucking deal with him."

Kakuzu was shocked to silence, and his father smirked, though it didn't look confident anymore. "You're one gutsy guy. I like that."

"You're… not kicking me out?"

At that, Kakuzu's father stood up, actually _smiling_, and how creepy was that? "You're blunt and you don't care what people think… kind of refreshing for someone who is surrounded by hypocrites and suck-ups every day. I think these two weeks are going to be fun."

Kakuzu stared after his father in disbelief before turning to give Hidan an equally surprised look. "I… think my father just approved of you…"


	10. Mine

Disclaimer: I don't own shit.

Two things:

1. I'm actually on a writing break due to exams. I have no idea how I managed to get a chapter together.

2. I'm taking requests to write during christmas break. For more information, go to my profile, where you can find a link to my deviantart. Everything is explained in my latest journal.

--

Much to the joy of the boys, the weather was good all over spring break; sunshine, some wind, but still the typical chill of spring that you noticed as soon as you left the sun and had to go to a place in the shade.

It still meant that they could do a lot; Hidan actually went outside whenever Kakuzu decided studying would be a good idea. Kakuzu didn't know what Hidan did outside, but as long as he kept out of trouble, he didn't really care anyway.

A few days into the first week, Kakuzu took Hidan to a nearby lake; they went by car, since Kakuzu's father had a driver.

"_So she said what's the problem baby__?  
What's the problem, I don't know  
Well maybe I'm in love (love)  
Think about it every time  
I think about it  
Can't stop thinking 'bout it"_

Kakuzu kicked the back of the driver's seat. „Turn that piece of crap on the radio off."

Thankfully, they arrived at the parking lot by the lakeshore soon, and Kakuzu shooed the driver away. "I'll call you when we want to leave."

For now, he just wanted private time with Hidan.

"This is fucking awesome!" Hidan ran out on the dock, staring at the large lake. "And there's barely anyone here! Just some old cunt and her runt of a dog…" He smirked and started taking his clothes off.

Kakuzu sighed. "You're going to get sick again. Put your clothes back on."

The only answer he got was Hidan's pants hitting him in the face.

"Kawabonga!"

And with a loud splash, Hidan was in the water.

"HOLY SHIT! MY BALLS JUST SHRUNK TO THE SIZE OF RAISINS!"

Kakuzu snorted. "I told you it's cold."

Hidan glared up at him, lips starting to tint blue and trembling from the cold water. "Well fuck you very much, asshole, it's not cold at all!"

Kakuzu gave him a deadpan look. "You're so spiteful, it's childish."

"I'm fucking seventeen, I can act childish if I want!"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes yet again, sitting down on the dock. "If you want to act childish, you should lose your adult privileges."

"Like I have any!"

Kakuzu smirked. "Having sex is one."

Hidan gave him a look that was a mix of a glare and a sweatdrop. "Fucking pervert…"

Kakuzu huffed quietly and sat down on the dock, pulling his shoes and socks off and rolling the legs of his pants up to mid-calf before easing his feet into the water. "Shut up and swim."

Once Hidan was underwater, Kakuzu started finally relaxing; he gazed up at the sky, scrunching up his nose.

Daydreaming wasn't something Kakuzu did; he was a realist and completely down to earth. But gazing at the water, he found himself pulled into his thoughts.

He couldn't remember the last time he had been at this lake; he must have been younger than sixteen, for sure.

His father used to always take him here when the weather was good and he had time – which was a rarity in itself – and they'd swim or just talk in peace. When Kakuzu was a child, he had played while his parents walked around, never letting him out of their view, though.

When he really thought about it, he supposed that this was where it all began; this was where that argument with his father started. They had been sitting on the dock, the same way he was doing right now, throwing pebbles in the water and making them skip over the surface when Kakuzu had told him, completely out of the blue.

"_I'm not going to take over your company." _

Kakuzu was ripped from his thoughts when he suddenly found himself enveloped by cold lake water. It took him a second to realize what was going on, give a strong kick and come back up to the surface.

Gasping for air, he glared at the laughing Hidan. "You son of a bitch!"

Hidan merely grinned and pounced Kakuzu, trying to dunk him back underwater. "Come on, you didn't take me here to fucking stare at the lake all gloomy, didya?!"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. He'd never admit it, but he was kind of grateful that Hidan had pulled him out from his thoughts, because playing around in the water and eventually ending up making out until the water got too cold to bear was a whole lot better.

--

"Eat this, bitch!"

"Get the hell out of my face!"

"Not till you fucking try this fucking popsicle! It tastes fucking awesome, so just fucking try it!"

Kakuzu glared, trying to avoid the strawberry popsicle Hidan was shoving in his face and at the same time keep the boy on top of him at bay. "I'm not going to eat that, not even if you beg me. You slobbered all over it."

"Oh go to hell!"

"Only Christians go to hell."

"Fuck you!" Hidan huffed, but he really did pull back. "Now the popsicle is all drippy, and it's your fault… jackass." He started lapping at the drops that were slowly running down and dripping onto his fingers. He sucked and licked to prevent the molten ice from smearing onto his hands even further; he was just about to lick his fingers clean when he noticed Kakuzu staring at him. "What the fuck are you staring at?"

--

What truly amazed Kakuzu was that while their relationship was developing rapidly over those two weeks, it didn't really change at all.

They still fought and beat each other up until kissing mixed in with the biting, but they learned more things about each other every day – which, in turn, led to more fighting. It was simple things that they just hadn't known before; trivial, everyday things like Hidan complaining about Kakuzu's cold feet when they were in bed, Kakuzu hating that Hidan took forever in the bathroom and so on.

They were also becoming increasingly comfortable with each other to the point that Hidan didn't protest when Kakuzu called it dating, and once, when he felt very brave, he even took Kakuzu's hand in public – though he didn't mind the public as much as he minded Kakuzu's smirk.

Their sexual relationship was growing, too, mainly because they had much more privacy here than they did at school, and with Kakuzu's father working so much and his mother also being a busy person, there weren't many people to walk in on them.

When Kakuzu's mother did catch them in a heated make out session once, she insisted on giving them the talk. Apparently, it was a good thing, too, because Hidan hadn't known a thing about protection.

"All they fucking taught us at the orphanage was abstinence; don't give in to lust, yadda yadda."

It was after that talk that Kakuzu set out to buy some stuff; it wasn't just that he was a teenage boy and thus a walking hormone bomb – sure, that was a factor – but mainly, he had this urge – felt this need to make Hidan his, truly his alone.

"Why so serious?"

Kakuzu looked up from his book, glaring at his mother. "I was reading."

"No, you weren't." She smiled. "Your eyes weren't moving. So, what's my baby thinking about?"

Kakuzu sighed softly, closing the book. "Nothing."

She smiled, laying her hand on top of her son's. "Let me guess. It's about Hidan?"

Kakuzu sighed yet again, glaring a little. "Yes."

She grinned with glee. "So what is it? Surely, you two didn't fight?"

"We always fight." He rolled his eyes. "No, I think… I don't really know. It's just… It could be I'm…" Kakuzu took a deep breath; he wasn't usually someone to beat around the bush, so why couldn't he just spit it out? "I think I'm in love with him."

She smiled kindly at him, giving his hands a reassuring squeeze. "Then you should tell him, not me."

"That's exactly the thing I'm worried about." Kakuzu stared down at the ground. "We got together on New Year's, and he just acknowledged us as dating. Telling him I love him would probably freak him out completely. I can't tell him yet."

"I see." The smile faded from her lips. "So what do you plan to do, Kakuzu? Does that wild boy fit into your plans for the future?"

"That's just the thing – I don't know." Kakuzu turned his hand, studying a mark where Hidan had bitten up in a quarrel that day. "I had my future completely planned out – graduate with a perfect score, go to Konoha's medical university and eventually become a heart surgeon. I've been saving all my money so I can afford to go to that specific university because Father said that if I want to build my own future, I have to finance my own future. When I go to Konoha and Hidan has to spend two more years at Akatsuki, will our relationship be able to last? You said it yourself – Hidan is wild, and I'm possessive. I want him to be mine, and mine alone; that's the truth why I took him here: I didn't want him to be with his roommate at Akatsuki. I want to have him always here with me."

"You sound like you really love him, honey." Maria smiled at her son. "I'm sure you will be able to think of a solution, if you love him that much."

The brunette teen sighed yet again, closing his hand into a fist. "I thought maybe I should break up with him before I graduate."

"But that would only put the two of you through a lot of pain."

"So will staying together and living in different cities."

"You don't know that until you have tried it. Plus, doesn't get Hidan get a say in this? You really should talk this out." She leaned forward as much as it was possible for her, kissing her son's forehead. "I want my baby to be happy, but I want Hidan to be happy, too."

Kakuzu crinkled his nose, wiping his forehead, which in turn made his mother snicker. "I still have some time left to decide on anything. I just want to enjoy my time here, for now."

--

"The shower's free now."

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow when he entered his room from the attached bathroom. Music was filling the air; soothing guitar sounds, a song that Kakuzu was sure he had heard a lot over spring break.

"_Because maybe  
You're gonna be the one who saves me?  
And after all  
You're my wonderwall…"_

Hidan looked up from the plain grey notebook he had been writing in, looking actually kind of tired, but quickly turned his expression into a pissy frown. "Took ya long enough, jackass."

Kakuzu smirked. "I'm not the one taking forever in the bath, cielo."

"Stop calling me that!" Hidan jumped up and tried to hit Kakuzu, but the older one quickly gripped his wrists and pulled him closer by them, successfully planting a kiss on his mouth before letting go, smirking.

Hidan was fuming when he left for the bathroom.

Kakuzu rolled his eyes with a smile and grabbed the remote to turn the stereo off; that was when his eyes fell on the notebook Hidan had left on his bed.

A diary? No, it couldn't be; only teenage girls wrote in diaries, surely Hidan wouldn't do that. So what was it?

He picked it up, turning it over once before opening it. There was a lot of writing in it; some single phrases, a lot of scratched out words, the occasional doodle, and some bits that looked like verses.

As Hidan always took a long time in the shower, Kakuzu managed to read through the entire notebook, and he quickly realized that what he was reading were lyrics.

Oddly enough, he would have expected Hidan's lyrics to be something immature and typically teenager-ish, but they weren't. They were strangely mature, dealing with everything that seemed to bother Hidan – problems of today's society and political matters (and what the hell, Kakuzu hadn't even known Hidan followed politics!) mostly. They were all highly critical, though.

It was the last one – the one Hidan had obviously been working on when Kakuzu came back from the shower – that really took his attention.

Or rather, the title did, because it was nothing more than a title yet. Actually, it wasn't even a title yet.

There were many scratched out titles, though; Kakuzu couldn't decipher them all, but some were "Untitled", "I don't fucking need you to save me", "Okay maybe I do but then I want to fucking save you too" and "the only fucking love song I'll ever fucking write".

"What the fucking fuck do you think you're fucking doing?!"

Kakuzu looked up from the notebook, calmly looking at Hidan, who was standing in the doorway with only a towel wrapped around his lower half, hair still wet and clinging to his face and neck. "You write good lyrics, Cielo."

"I didn't fucking allow you to read them!" Hidan stomped towards him and tried to snatch the notebook from Kakuzu's hands, succeeding after two or three attempts. "Don't ever fucking read it again, jackass!"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "Immature, Cielo. Really."

"Oh eat a dick!"

--

After the first week, Hidan was starting to get used to sharing a bed with Kakuzu; they'd usually fall asleep on opposite sides of the bed, each of them preferring some personal space, and woke up the next morning cuddled closely together, usually with Hidan half on top of Kakuzu, face pressed into his pyjama top, and the brunette's arms wrapped possessively around him.

Waking up like that had been embarrassing and awkward for both. By the third morning, they already teased each other about it. On the sixth morning, it was normal for them and went without a comment.

Hidan actually slept a lot better like that, though he would never admit it. It was halfway into the second week of spring break that he woke up in the middle of the night with a craving for ice cream.

He really had been eating a lot less ice cream lately; it should be considered a sin not to eat ice cream every day.

So he carefully untangled himself from Kakuzu, put on some clothes just in case (he preferred to sleep in just his boxers, usually), grabbed his mp3 player and notebook and quietly snuck out of Kakuzu's room with the help of a flashlight.

Fifteen minutes later found him sitting on the kitchen floor, a tub of strawberry cheesecake ice cream on his lap and his headphones tucked into his ears.

He finished sucking some of the cold goodness from the spoon and leaned his head back against the fridge, smiling widely and singing along to the music in his ears.

"_Today was gonna be the day but they'll never throw it back to you.  
By now you should've somehow realized what you're not to do.  
I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now._

_And all the roads that lead you there were winding.  
And all the lights that light the way are blinding.  
There are many things that I, would like to say to you but I don't know how…"_

And suddenly, the light turned on.

Hidan looked up, blinking against the sudden brightness. It took his eyes a few moments to adjust from the flashlight to the normal one, but then he recognized Kakuzu's mother, smiling at him brightly.

"I knew I heard singing!"

He quickly turned the mp3 player off before holding the ice cream tub out for Kakuzu's mother to take. "Want some?"

She chuckled. "No, thank you. You sing so well, Hidan… I think I even know that song. It's an old one, right?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, Deidara-chan gave it to me when I was confused about –" He blushed, clearing his throat. "Nevermind. A friend lent me the CD."

Now, when Maria Hoku saw her son's boyfriend blushing, there was no way she was going to let go of it. "Confused about…?"

He gave a heavy sigh, pulling out his notebook. "I sometimes write shit, and couldn't concentrate for a while – writer's block, or some shit like that – because I always got distracted by this fucking picture. It confused the fuck out of me." He opened the notebook with an unusual carefulness and slipped out the photobooth pictures they had taken on their first date, handing them to her.

She snorted, smiling, when she saw them. "You kids never stop fighting, do you?"

Hidan huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "He keeps calling me by this stupid fucking Spanish insult and he won't tell me what the hell it means!"

"What's the insult?"

Hidan scrunched his nose up, trying to remember. "I think it was… Sielo? Ah, it was Cielo!"

Maria had to try very hard not to burst out laughing at that one.

She grinned mischievously when she suddenly had an idea. "You want to know something to tell him in return?"

--

The next day, Hidan could not stop smirking, and Kakuzu found it awfully suspicious. He decided to be cautious around the younger one – especially after seeing an excited glint in Hidan's eyes when they almost fought.

It was, however, impossible for them to go a whole day without fighting, and the inevitable happened after dinner, when Hidan refused to stop singing that stupid song that annoyed Kakuzu so much.

"_Come on, come on  
Turn a little faster  
Come on, come on  
The world will follow after  
Come on, come on  
Cause everybody's after love!_"

„Shut the hell _up_!"

The resulting wrestling match on Kakuzu's bed concluded with Hidan pinned down onto the mattress, still grinning and slightly out of breath.

Kakuzu smirked smugly. "You should listen to me when I say shut up, Cielo."

And there it came again – that gleam in Hidan's eyes – and his lips split into a huge smirk. "Soy tuyo. Haz conmigo lo que quieras."

Silence.

Kakuzu stared down at the silver-haired boy, eyes widened in surprise. Hidan looked confident and smug – an expression that didn't match what he said at all – but the words, the words…

Kakuzu knew something was foul, but he couldn't contain himself. "Lo haré."

--

That night, they had sex together for the first time.

It was a lot more awkward than Kakuzu expected because Hidan was inexperienced, but once he got a hang of it and caught up with Kakuzu, it got pretty close to "fucking awesome".

Hidan was loud; he moaned and swore, cursing at Kakuzu to go deeper, to wait or to do it faster. Kakuzu complied none too gently.

Kakuzu was quiet; he panted when he got out of breath, sometimes made an annoyed noise when Hidan was getting too pushy and whispered to him when he felt the boy needed to be calmed down a bit – but as far as moans went, there was only one when he watched Hidan's face as the silver-haired one reached his climax.

Kakuzu followed soon after.

--

It wasn't too long after they got done and cleaned up that Hidan fell asleep, curled half into Kakuzu's side with Kakuzu's arm wrapped possessively around him.

Kakuzu, however, was awake for a long time afterwards, thinking about how the hell he would be able to last without Hidan underneath him, all handsome and hot and _his_.

--

…Someone kill me now. *stabs self*

Thanks to Kaz who helped with the Spanish, as always! Translations:

"Soy tuyo. Haz conmigo lo que quieras." – "I'm yours. Do with me what you want."

"Lo hare." – "I will."

Songs used:

Counting Crows – Accidentally in love

Oasis - Wonderwall


	11. Rollercoaster

Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I made money with this, I wouldn't have to do a job with shitty pay.

This is the last chapter before the epilogue. If any questions are left in the open, ask and I will try to answer them in the epilogue ^^.

--

All good things had to come to an end, and spring break was no different.

Kakuzu and Hidan were to leave on the last Saturday of the break, early in the morning, so Kakuzu's parents made sure they had time Friday night for a last dinner together, and accompanied them to the station the next morning.

Hidan wasn't sure how to act; he was sad about leaving, he couldn't deny that, but what to do about it? Was he supposed to say something, or just smile and wave?

The decision was made for him when Maria motioned for him to lean down so she could reach him and then kissed his forehead. "Have a good journey home, Hidan. Promise to visit us again in summer?"

Hidan grinned, feeling a little embarrassed because of the lightest tint of pink appearing on his cheeks. "I will."

--

Standing in front of Kakuzu's room at the academy, Hidan thrust a plain grey book into the brunette's hands.

Kakuzu's eyebrows furrowed the slightest bit in confusion.

Hidan grinned, though it seemed a little nervous. "I've been thinking and… if I want to become a fucking musician, I've gotta let people read my lyrics, don't I? So read them, and tell me what the fuck you think."

Kakuzu smiled underneath his mask.

--

Going back to school sucked, to put it plainly.

Even though it had only been two weeks, Kakuzu had gotten used to Hidan sleeping in his bed. Not only that, but also the privacy – at Kakuzu's house, they had only had the chance to have sex twice after their first time, but with Tobi and Kisame as their respective roommates, there was no way they would be able to sneak in private time.

Time in general was an issue; Hidan had to spend most of his free time in the choir/music club because the music club was supposed to perform at the upcoming open day of Akatsuki Academy, and Kakuzu had to study for his final exams and, as the student council's treasurer, help organize the open day.

The only times they actually saw each other was at breakfast, which was therefore often ditched in favor of making out in an empty classroom or a bathroom stall.

In a way, though, he supposed that this was a test, and he silently decided that if they made it to prom without major problems, he would give a long-distance relationship a chance.

There was a quiet, irrational part of him that wanted to not get accepted to the university he had always wanted to go to, just so he could go to one that was closer to the Academy. He quickly kicked that thought to the bin, though; he would do his best at the finals. As much as he wanted to be with Hidan, he had been working too hard to get into that university to give up now.

He hoped they would last.

--

He caught Hidan at breakfast three days before open day. They were making out in an empty bathroom stall, and Kakuzu's hands were just starting to fumble with the zipper of Hidan's pants when Hidan stopped him.

"Can't," Hidan panted, grasping Kakuzu's hand to keep him from trying. "I only have five minutes before I have to go to a stupid fucking fitting."

"…Fitting."

"Yes, asshole." Hidan rolled his eyes. "For a tux."

Kakuzu's eyes narrowed. "A tux? For open day?"

"No, jackass!" Hidan clicked his tongue, pulling away from Kakuzu completely, but Kakuzu pushed himself right after, resulting in Hidan being pressed against the wall of the bathroom stall. "It's for fucking prom, shitface!"

Kakuzu glared, keeping Hidan pinned to the wall. He hadn't asked Hidan to prom, so why was the silver-haired boy getting a tux? "What are you doing at the prom? Did someone ask you out? Did you _accept_?"

With some effort, Hidan finally managed to push the brunette away. "What the fuck? What the hell is wrong with you, shithead?!"

Kakuzu's glare deepened. "Answer the question."

Now, a cornered Hidan was never an easy to deal with Hidan. In fact, when Hidan was pushed in the corner, he got extremely pissed off, stubborn and spiteful. "And what if I fucking don't?"

Kakuzu's fist clenched; he was very tempted to punch Hidan, but tried hard to remain calm. "If anyone goes to prom with you, it's me. Answer the question before I punch you."

Hidan growled under his breath, eyes narrowed to slits. "You didn't fucking ask me to prom, asshole, so you have no fucking room to talk."

The brunette rolled his eyes. "You're not supposed to have a date with someone else when you're in a relationship. It's called cheating."

"I'm not fucking cheating on you!" The silver-haired teen grabbed Kakuzu by the collar of his shirt and pushed him roughly against the wall, making the tiny bathroom stall shake. "I'm getting a tux because I'll fucking be performing at your stupid-ass prom, but you go right ahead and fucking accuse me of cheating! You're a fucking jealous bastard!" He let go, taking a step back and glaring. "You're not supposed to be accusing someone of cheating when you don't know a fucking thing. It's fucking called trusting."

Hidan tried to push past Kakuzu, but the older teen quickly recovered from his shock, grabbing Hidan's wrist. "Stop."

Hidan tried to free his wrist, eventually resorting to kicking Kakuzu and punching wildly with his free hand. "Let the fuck go of me! You should be fucking apologizing, not commanding me around, you fucking jerk!"

"Shut up." Kakuzu finally managed to overcome Hidan by punching him square in the face, knocking the silver-haired teen into the door of the stall. He grasped his jaw tightly, forcing the slightly shorter teen to look up at him.

Their gazes were intense; Hidan's eyebrows were drawn down towards his eyes in a scowl, though his eyes were wide in and confusion. Kakuzu's eyes, in turn, were narrowed, but his eyebrows mirrored Hidan's.

"I love you."

Silence struck the two after Kakuzu's confession, and the brunette found it surprising how calm he sounded even though he was nervous and pissed at the same time.

Hidan's expression slipped into one of shock, lips forming an 'o' and his eyebrows no longer drawng downwards. He stared at Kakuzu disbelievingly for a good minute before finally pushing past and fleeing.

Kakuzu stared after Hidan in silence for a moment before chuckling humorlessly and wiping some hair from his face. "I'm such an idiot."

--

Hidan didn't turn up for breakfast the next day, or the day after, and Kakuzu didn't investigate.

Kakuzu wanted to sort his thoughts, desperately so, but he knew that he couldn't talk to Kisame about it, and Sasori was in stress because of open day.

He chose to talk to his mother.

"I see. What are you going to do now, darling?"

"I don't know." Kakuzu shifted his cellphone to keep it between his shoulder and ear, head tilted to hold it there. "Maybe I should wait until he has thought about it and comes to me –"

"Then you might have to wait forever, darling." His mother sighed. "Hidan is scared. It was you who explained that to me. You need to go after him soon, or you'll lose him. If you love him the way you say, then you won't let him escape. Or will you?"

Kakuzu remained silent for a few moments. "It would be convenient, wouldn't it? I don't have to break up with him if he breaks up with me."

"Instead, you'd have to live with being a coward."

"Mhm."

"You'd have to live with the question 'What if I had gone after him' for the rest of your life."

"Possibly."

"Maybe you'd never find a love like him again and live in regret."

"Maybe."

"So what are you going to do?"

--

Orange and pink, Hidan decided, mixed to the color of blood.

How long had it been that he had gone onto the roof? Too long. The last thing he remembered was seeing snow and rain, but when he went on the evening before open day, he saw the setting sun tint the blooming cherry trees in the school's courtyard in its orange color.

He watched a gust of wind rip petals off the trees, carrying them onwards.

They looked like tiny bleeding hearts, gone with the wind.

He sighed, stepping away from the edge and letting himself fall into a pattern he had drawn on the rooftop using chalk – a circle with an upside down triangle.

He closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath and laying a hand on his chest. He felt like he'd been stabbed, right through the heart. It was a weird throbbing pain, and his head was unable to form clear thoughts, kind of like when you got tipsy or slept too little. His heart, though in pain, beat a little faster than usual, as though he was pumped with adrenaline.

"Hidan-san, you should really go back inside. Tomorrow is your big day; you don't want to catch a cold."

Hidan glanced at the source of the voice – Tobi – for a brief moment before looking back up at the sky. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough." Tobi hesitated before sitting down next to Hidan. "Can Tobi ask Hidan-san a question?"

"Why the fuck not… sure."

"Have you and Kakuzu-senpai broken up?"

Hidan's heart skipped a beat in panic and he frantically sat up, turning his head to stare at Tobi. "Where did you hear that?"

The Uchiha raised his hands in defense, but his face held none of his usual childish playfulness. In fact, he looked rather depressed, himself.

"_Hey, jackass?" _

"…"

"_Why'd you ask me to come with you?" _

_Kakuzu closed his eyes for a moment. He'd been prepared for that question and was mildly surprised that Hidan asked now; he'd expected him to demand an explanation earlier. "We don't really talk." _

_Hidan blinked, confused. "Eh?" _

"_When you're bothered by something, you talk to Tobi or Deidara. Me, I talk to Kisame or Sasori. I think considering our… 'condition' with each other, we should be able to talk and open up to each other more. That's why I want you to come home with me; maybe we can understand each other better, then." _

Hidan bit his lip, looking away again.

Talk and open up to each other. But how?

"I'm… I don't fucking know." He let himself fall to lay down again. "We had another fucking fight, but this time, it's really fucking different. We both got fucking pissed, and then he told me he loved me, and I just… I got fucking scared, you know? So I fucking ran."

Tobi stared at him in disbelief. "He confessed his love for you and you… you _ran_?"

"I was fucking scared!" Hidan rolled onto his side so he didn't have to see Tobi, and, more importantly, so Tobi couldn't see his face. "I don't understand love, Tobi. I've never fucking been loved. I've never even had friends until you fucking skipped into my life. I'm a shitty fucking friend, and I'd make an even shittier lover for Kakuzu."

"But… you've been together since New Year's. That's five months now. If he says he loves you, you must be doing something right."

Hidan scoffed. "So was I supposed to tell him that I love him too when I don't know if I love him? I mean, half the time I want to fucking kill him."

"And the other half?"

Silence.

After a good minute of the silent treatment, Tobi was ready to get up and leave, but Hidan finally spoke, albeit quietly. "The other half, I just… want to be with him… I don't know how to explain it. I want to fight with him, kiss him, watch him read those shitty-ass books he likes so much, have sex with him, I just… I just want to fucking _be with him_."

Tobi laid his hand on Hidan's shoulder, now smiling again, albeit a little sadly. "That's what you call love."

"I told you, I don't fucking under-"

"Love isn't meant to be understood." Tobi stood up and offered his hand to Hidan to help him up. "All you can do is accept it or reject it, and from the way you feel about Kakuzu-senpai, I think you should accept it."

"He was being a fucking jerk."

"But so were you, running from his confession. It must have hurt Kakuzu-senpai a lot."

Hidan got up, dusting his pants off half heartedly before turning towards Tobi and holding out his hand. "Come on, let's go to our room. It's getting fucking chilly."

"Tobi!"

Both first year students turned to the newcomer in surprise. It was Kisame.

Kisame glared, storming towards Tobi. "Since when did you know?!"

Tobi couldn't look at the older student, that pained, depressed expression from earlier returning to his face. "I'm sorry, Kisame-senpai."

"How long?!"

Hidan blinked in confusion; Kisame was usually polite person, referring to everyone using the '-san' suffix, and was especially patient with the hyperactive Tobi. While he did get angry, he usually hid it behind a well-natured façade, but to see him as angry as now was an absolute rarity.

Tobi didn't say a word, he just stared at the ground.

After a few minutes, Kisame turned around and stormed off again, leaving Hidan to wonder what the hell had just happened. "Tobi…?"

He was going to ask Tobi what was wrong, but then Tobi lifted his gaze and looked so much like he would start crying any minute that Hidan couldn't get himself to do it.

Instead, he decided that this would be the first time in his life that he would be there for a friend.

--

Deidara finished buttoning up her pyjama top before sitting down on Sasori's bed, where the redhead was going through a magazine. She leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on her girlfriend's neck. "Keeping your thoughts occupied, hm?"

The older girl narrowed her eyes slightly, setting the magazine aside. "Why would I do that?"

"To keep yourself from hoping that she'll come after all."

Sasori rolled her eyes when the blonde wrapped her arms around her shoulders from behind. "I gave up on Grandma long ago. Plus, your family is coming tomorrow. I'll be fine."

Deidara smiled slightly, entwining her hand with Sasori's. "Our, yeah. It's our family now, Sasori."

The redhead actually managed a small smile. "Heh. You're right."

--

Long, tan fingers traced the lines of a photo in a surprisingly gentle way that no-one would suspect from such strong hands.

Kakuzu stared down at the photobooth pictures, expression unreadable, when the door to his room burst open and Kisame stormed in, letting himself fall onto his bed.

He raised an eyebrow, quickly slipping the photos back into Hidan's lyric book. "What crawled up your ass and died?"

He cringed. _Language_, he reminded himself. _You are not Hidan._

"Itachi-san," the taller student laid on his side, his back facing Kakuzu. "His… his illness has gotten worse… I just heard Uchiha-sensei and Nagato-sensei talking about Itachi-san leaving Akatsuki when this school year is over to spend several months at a clinic. I didn't know, Kakuzu, I was… I was so oblivious…"

Kakuzu softened a little. "But we're graduating this year. You can visit him at the clinic."

Kisame shook his head softly. "I can't… I've been accepted to Kiri's university on a sports scholarship. Why didn't Itachi-san tell me? I wouldn't have applied if I had known!"

"Maybe that's exactly why." Kakuzu stared out of the window. "Itachi is too nice for his own good. He wouldn't have wanted you to throw your scholarship away for his sake. That's probably why he didn't want you to know."

It started raining.

--

That night was a bad one for many students at Akatsuki Academy.

There were lovers, curled up tightly together, of which one was too occupied wishing on stars for hopeless things, and there were lovers who were too stubborn to make up. A friend remained completely sleepless, wondering _why_. Of two cousins, one was so pumped with meds that he couldn't _not_ sleep, and the other had cried himself to sleep in his roommate's bed.

The rain was heavy, obscuring the world outside and shutting the students off completely, and the rhythm of the rain's fall was mind-numbing to those who could not find sleep.

A bad night, indeed.

--

On the morning of open day, the sky was a dull grey, towering over the world like impending doom. Hidan watched the clouds with dull eyes, waiting for them to drop onto the earth and crush everything.

He had spent most of the night comforting Tobi, giving him a shoulder to cry on and even letting him sleep in his bed. It had been awkward because he had never been too sure how comforting worked, but in the end, all Tobi had needed was someone being close to him.

He had never even thought about how lonely Tobi must have been.

Itachi was best friends with Kisame and they spent all their time together, Deidara was dating Sasori and he was with Kakuzu. The people in their class didn't like Tobi because Tobi was the headmaster's nephew.

He felt like such an asshole for not having thought about it before and silently swore to himself that he'd beat the shit out of anyone who dared to pick on the Uchiha from now on.

"Hidan-san, Tobi has finished dressing, we can go."

--

"Deidara-nee-chan!"

Deidara grinned happily, hugging her younger sister. "Ino-chan! I'm so glad you and Dad could make it, yeah!"

Ino smiled, returning the hug before turning to Sasori. "Sasori-nee-san, I'm glad to see you, too!"

Sasori smiled slightly. "As am I, Ino-san."

Shikaku Nara sighed, turning to his friend Inoichi. "I don't know how you do it, Inoichi. Two daughters and an almost-daughter in law must be so troublesome. I'm glad I have a boy."

"Stop being troublesome," the aforementioned boy muttered, "let's just get to those events so I can decide whether I want to go to this academy or Konoha."

--

"Ah, Hashirama, it's great to see you."

Kakuzu watched Madara shake hands with the headmaster of Konoha Academy, paying interest to Madara's obviously fake smile.

Hashirama Senju smiled back, and Kakuzu could tell that it was genuine. "The pleasure is all mine, Madara. Now, I believe you haven't met my niece, Tsunade?"

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow, looking at the blond girl standing next to Hashirama. The most notable thing, besides her huge breasts, was that smirk plastered on her painted lips.

"When we're at introductions, this Kakuzu Hoku, part of our student council. He plans to go to Konoha's medical university."

"Really?" Hashirama continued smiling, patting his niece on the shoulder. "So does my little Tsunade. Seems like you two will be friends in the future."

"What's this? Meeting of the headmasters and I'm not invited?"

Madara turned his fake smile towards the newcomer. "Orochimaru, nice to see you."

Orochimaru crossed his arms over his chest. "So where's that kid you told me about? That apparently amazing music talent?" Kakuzu noticed the boy standing beside him; a silver ponytail, dark eyes.

Madara smirked. "You'll get to see Hidan-kun later, don't worry."

--

Shikamaru glanced at the schedule sheet, sighing. "Which events do you want to go to, Ino?"

"Hmm…" The blonde looked over her friend's shoulder, glancing at the sheet. "Art class at 11:00 because nee-chan is there, then the cooking club at 12:30 because maybe we can snag some food then. Oh, hey, definitely Sasori-nee-san's theatre club at 15:00. Aaand, lessee – a-huh! The choir/music club starts in a few minutes, let's hurry!"

--

Sitting in the back of the classroom where the choir/music club resided along with the headmasters, their 'assistants' and curious kids from all over the country who were interested in Akatsuki Academy was seriously grating Kakuzu's nerves.

This was the closest he had been to Hidan in three days.

He wasn't sure what to do; he just wanted to stare at him all the time, but another part of him was so angry at Hidan that he wanted to refuse to look at him and remain cold.

The club started with warming up their vocals, and that was kind of funny to witness, if he was honest. They started with yawning and panting, went on with the scales, and then sang some tongue breakers.

Kakuzu watched Hidan. He couldn't help it; he had seen Hidan sing or play piano occasionally, but this was different. Hidan was completely absorbed in his element.

"Alright, that's enough warming up. Hidan, I want you on piano and everyone else on vocals."

Kakuzu glanced at Orochimaru and his 'assistant', Kabuto. Both were fixing their eyes on the boy going to the piano – Hidan.

To be honest, he didn't know why they didn't let Hidan sing with the others and placed him on the piano. Listening intently, Kakuzu knew that Hidan was a far better singer than the rest. Either they were trying to save the best for last, or they wanted to show Hidan's piano skills off as well.

They mainly sang known songs that the visitors could sing along with, and after four songs, were allowed a break to drink something.

In the meantime, it was Hidan's turn, and Kakuzu guessed that his first theory was right: they were saving Hidan for last.

"How are your guitar lessons going?"

Hidan blinked, apparently caught off guard as he got up from the stool in front of the piano. "Could be going faster, but my tutor fucking insists."

The music teacher smiled. "Want a challenge? Play a song and sing at the same time."

Hidan, being the ever confident teen, smirked. "Sure fucking thing." He crossed the class to grab his acoustic guitar before going back to the teacher, sitting down on a stool. He fished around in his pants pocket for a moment before his hand appeared triumphantly with a pick. He shifted to get into a position where he could sing and play at the same time and started tapping a rhythm with his foot before he began playing.

"Hey there Delilah, what's it like in New York City

I'm a thousand miles away, but girl tonight you look so pretty, yes you do

Time Square can't shine as bright as you

I swear it's true…"

Kakuzu heard a girl squeal quietly and narrowed his eyes.

_His. _

And to think that if Hidan were to ever make it big in the music industry, there would be millions of those idiots…

"Hey there Delilah  
Don't you worry about the distance  
I'm right there if you get lonely  
Give this song another listen  
Close your eyes  
Listen to my voice, it's my disguise  
I'm by your side…"

Hidan occasionally messed up, but Kakuzu didn't care. Watching Hidan's concentrated expression, those long, strong fingers pressing down on the strings, that voice, and the sounds of the guitar, all aided by the lyrics…

Screw accompanying Madara. He was going to talk to Hidan after this club was over.

--

Hidan was greedily gulping down water when everyone shuffled out of the classroom. He was painfully aware of all the eyes on him – especially that creepy guy with the long black hair, and Kakuzu.

He shuddered silently.

"Hidan."

Crap. Now he was alone with Kakuzu. But at least they were talking, now.

"Kakuzu."

Kakuzu studied the other boy. "You avoided me."

"You didn't fucking come after me."

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes. "How selfish can you be? You were the one who ran off after I said… _that_. You should be apologizing to me."

Hidan was tempted to say something just to spite Kakuzu, but bit his lip until he had laid out exactly what he wanted to say. "Okay, you better fucking mark this day in your stupid-ass calendar, because you'll never hear it again, but… I'm fucking sorry for running off."

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow expectantly.

Hidan rolled his eyes. "And I was being a complete fucking jerk."

"Go on."

"I'm fucking stupid and a shitty – hey, aren't you supposed to say 'No, you're not, I forgive you' or some shit like that?!"

Kakuzu snorted. "But you _are_ a jerk, stupid and a shitty bastard, Cielo."

When he heard the nickname, Hidan could barely suppress a grin, trying to hide it behind an angry façade. "Fucking jackass! I should –"

Kakuzu silenced him with a kiss before putting his hand on his back and starting to guide him out of the room. "Come on, let's go."

"…You know, I _have_ been wondering what the fuck 'Cielo' actually means."

Kakuzu smirked, closing the door behind them. "Loosely translated, it means 'darling'."

If Kakuzu hadn't predicted the punch aimed at his head, he would have a concussion at the very least. As it was, though, he ducked and smirked. "Save that energy for later, cielo."

The black eye he received was so worth seeing Hidan's face as red as a tomato.

--

Prom, a month later, was crowded.

Most of the students were dancing (even the shy Nagato-sensei had dared to ask the with sex appeal bursting librarian Konan), but Kakuzu was content sitting on the sidelines with Kisame, watching Hidan sing cheesy prom songs on stage, like _Put your head on my shoulder _and _Can't take my eyes off of you_.

After _Stand by me_, the band got to take a break and a DJ took over. Five minutes later, Hidan turned up with a glass of spiked bunch, finished sipping on it and asked Kakuzu to dance.

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. "You'll just step on my feet."

Hidan smirked. "Deidara-chan taught me. Now come on, or are you scared?"

Kisame watched his two friends go with a slight smile and sipped on his own glass of punch. _Kids._

"Would you mind if I sat next to you?"

He raised an eyebrow and looked up at the newcomer – Itachi. He didn't reply, so Itachi simply sat down next to Kisame, a glass of water in his hands.

For a while, the two silently sat next to each other, watching their friends enjoy themselves, before Itachi finally spoke up.

"Are you still mad at me?"

Kisame didn't even look at him. "Kinda, yeah."

Itachi's shoulders sunk slightly. "I see. I'll leave you alone, then."

Kisame sighed. "You don't have to, Itachi-san."

"It's fine." The Uchiha got up again, glancing over at the others. "If you're angry, I'll respect that."

"Will you visit me in Kiri?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were angry."

"But I won't be angry forever."

Itachi smiled slightly. "Sure. Just tell me when and I'll be there."

--

_What day is it? And in what month?  
This clock never seemed so alive  
I can't keep up and I can't back down  
I've been losing so much time_

It had been a struggle to find out whose hands went where, as both boys learned the man's parts in close dancing, and both were used to leading.

Eventually, though, they just settled on swaying together.

"You stepped on my foot, Kakuzu. Ugh, you – fuck you, I'm starting to think you're fucking doing this on purpose! Would you just – OW! Hey, if you don't – fuck, that hurt! I'll shove my foot up your fucking ass if you don't – you're a horrible dancer! Ow, not again! Kakuzu you –"

The brunette successfully shut up the other teen up with a kiss. "Hidan."

"_What_?!"

"I love you."

And this time, Hidan did not run away. Instead, he smirked and dipped Kakuzu in a tango step. "I love you too, jackass."

--

There you go, that's it. Now, only an epilogue, and over is "Pajaros en la Cabeza".

The plot changed a lot from when I first planned it to now, and if anyone is interested, I will gladly explain the change.

Also, for anyone who has seen the latest episode – Kakuzu's hair is fucking long. Expect a crackfic about it soon.

Songs used:

Plain White Ts – Hey there Delilah

Paul Anka – Put your head on my shoulder

Frankie Valli – can't take my eyes off of you

Lifehouse – You & Me

…I will go to bed now. Yes.


	12. Epilogue

Disclaimer: No ownage.

--

Kabuto hummed happily under his breath, minding his own business and reading medical reports. STD, med addict who wanted free stuff, STD, STD, noro virus –

"YOU!"

Kabuto blinked, staring at the dust cloud at the end of the hall that was rapidly approaching.

"WHAT TIME IS IT?!"

The dust cloud stopped right in front of him and turned out to be a heavily breathing Sakura, who just started her residency at Konoha hospital. Kabuto was in his fifth year.

He glanced at his watch. "A minute past six."

She screeched and ran.

--

The break room was the mekka of Konoha hospital, but today it was especially crowded. It might have had to do with the rather large amount of females – doctors, surgeons, nurses – piled in front of the shockingly small TV.

The door burst open, and Sakura stormed inside. "Did it start yet?!"

Ino shook her head and scooted over to allow her friend some space. "Come on, forehead girl, it's about to start!"

"Shut up, Ino-pig!"

And then, the anticipated TV program beginning, eliciting a round of squeals and excited screeches from the women surrounding the TV when a silver-haired man became visible on the screen.

"Hey everyone, my name's Hidan, I'm the singer and guitarist of the band 'Jashin' and you are watching 'Jashin live at Hard Rock'!"

Sakura sighed dreamily. "It's so great to be seeing it live on the TV because tickets were limited…"

"It's not live," a deep voice muttered behind her.

She glared up. "And how would you know that, Kakuzu-san?"

He remained silent.

"Ah, Hidan-sama!" Ino grinned. "I love his voice, so bass-heavy…"

"Actually," Kakuzu commented dryly, "he's a tenor. You shouldn't be throwing random words you heard into the room if you don't know what they mean."

"Shh!" The other women glared at Kakuzu, Ino and Sakura. "We're trying to watch this!"

They were all silent for a while except for the occasional squeal and cheer and some singing along, until Ino decided to speak up again. "I wish I wouldn't have to work… I bet my nee-chan could have gotten me tickets, she was friends with Hidan-sama in school… I could have taken him in with my sexiness."

"He is hardly interested in women." Kakuzu gestured towards the screen. "He's obviously gay. Can't you see? Narcissistic and gay."

Again, all glares were turned on Kakuzu. "Just shut up!"

Tsunade, the only woman in the room who was not the least bit interested in the TV, smirked. "You should listen to Kakuzu. After all, he would know."

Ino huffed. "Kakuzu-san wouldn't know the difference between a gay guy and a guy who takes care of his looks if it was marked with flashing signs!"

"One more word, Ino," Rin growled, "and I will gag you. Don't even think I'm joking."

Silence just returned to the room when suddenly, the door burst open. The women turned around, all glares and fury. "Any more interruptions and we'll –"

They stopped short when they saw who had just entered.

Silver hair, light blue jeans which were ripped at the knees, Metallica shirt, leather jacket, purple eyes…

Hidan.

The. Fucking. Hidan.

And he was ignoring them, storming past the couch. "Kakuzu, you shit, you were supposed to pick me up at the airport an hour ago!"

Kakuzu smirked. "Seems you found your way here just fine by yourself."

"Just for your fucking information, you'll be giving me the fucking money I wasted on the fucking taxi back, you fucking bastard!"

Kakuzu didn't even dignify the women on the couch with a glance. He put his hand on Hidan's back, guiding him to the door. "Come on, I'm buying you a coffee. You're jetlagged and a bitch when you're tired." His hand slipped down to Hidan's ass, giving it a pat and smirking in satisfaction when he heard a collective gasp.

"That was really hot," Sakura commented with a grin once Kakuzu and Hidan had left the room.

The others gave her a dark look.

Tsunade smiled in amusement. "I told you guys that Kakuzu would know. After all, he has been dating Hidan since his last year of school, then all through college, medical school and his residency. That makes like… thirteen years."

Upon seeing some of the women looking like a certain painting called "the scream", she humbly decided to keep the symbolic ring exchange Hidan and Kakuzu had done about a year ago to herself. She didn't want anyone to faint, after all.

-- The End --

And that's it.

I would like to thank each and every person who took the time to review. If you hadn't, I probably would have lost the motivation to keep writing this story looooong ago.

Thank you very much, I love you all!

Also, please look forward to my new story, which will be called "(You can sit beside me) When the world comes down"!

Leo: „What was the change?"

Assuming you mean the plot change I mentioned, there were several.

- It was not a boarding school in the original version. At first, I planned to have everyone live in the same city, with their parents, and Hidan living on his own in a one room apartment.  
- Kakuzu and Hidan, in the original version, met through being head of their respective clubs (all Akatsuki, including Pain, Konan and Zetsu were club presidents) and having to organize something at the school festival together.  
- It was supposed to be focused a lot more on the individual character development rather than the relationship. While we're at it, each character was supposed to get more development. I ended up focusing just on Hidan and Kakuzu and their relationship.  
- Hidan was going to have to perform with a Sound student, namely Tayuya, triggering Kakuzu's jealousy.  
- They were supposed to break up twice in the story.  
- I wanted to create a theme of dreams for both of them – Kakuzu's dream to become a surgeon and not caring about anything else, Hidan's eventual dream of becoming a professional musician. That was part of why I chose the title "Pajaros en la Cabeza", which is a Spanish song about a boy with his head in the clouds.


End file.
